30. Sir I. Clark Hutchisonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will amend Paragraph 17 of Circular No. 362 956 issued by the Scottish Education Department in such a way as to make it clear to education authorities that they may award bursaries based on local university costs to students who may be compelled to enter universities away from their homes on account of there being no vacancies available for them in their particular course of study in their local university.
§ Mr. MaclayNo, Sir; such a change would be against the interests of students generally, as it would be wrong for education authorities in awarding bursaries to take into account less than the expenditure that a student is obliged to incur.
Sir I. Clark HutchisonArising out of that Answer, may I ask my right hon. Friend whether he appreciates that this paragraph is being misunderstood in certain quarters, to the detriment of students? Will he have another look at it?
§ Mr. MaclayI will certainly pay attention to what my hon. Friend has said, but I could not give any promise beyond saying that I will look at it as he requests.