Student Grants (Hansard, 19 April 1977)

§ 3. Mr. Newton
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement on increases in student grants in relation to the effects 6 of the introduction of the child benefit scheme.

§ 4. Mrs. Chalker
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement on student grants, in view of the reduction in child tax allowances in 1977–78.

§ The Minister of State, Department of Education and Science (Mr. Gordon Oakes)
The parental contribution scale announced by my right hon. Friend on 28th March, which will apply from next September, incorporates an adjustment to compensate parents of students for the loss of child tax allowance. In addition, there will be a minimum grant of £80 towards maintenance.

§ Mr. Newton
That statement on 28th March and the one by the Chief Secretary on the following day were very welcome, at least in the sense that they were better late than never, but does the Minister not agree that the whole affair has shown up even more clearly the grave injustices of the parental contribution system? Will he take another look at the matter before further stages of the transition to child benefit?

§ Mr. Oakes
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman welcomed the making of the statements. We are looking at the whole question of parental contributions, but I remind the House that it would cost £120 million to abolish the contribution system at present, and £55 million even taking into account the full extent of the loss of the child tax allowance. Surely, at a time when they are asking for greater restraint in public expenditure, the Opposition are not encouraging me to do that.

§ Mrs. Chalker
Is the Minister aware of the grave difficulties faced by students receiving discretionary grants? What assistance is he prepared to give to such students who live in their family home and do not receive a proper parental contribution, though they receive something in kind? Many of these students are now in grave danger of not finishing their courses.

§ Mr. Oakes
The discretionary award system, as the name implies, is a discretionary system dependent upon the local authorities, though I very much hope that local authorities will make adjustments to their parental contribution 7 scales similar to those for mandatory awards. With regard to the individual amount that is given by local authorities and the extent of discretionary awards—this arises on another Question—I can tell the hon. Lady that we will be monitoring the position.

§ 13. Mr. Bryan Davies
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she has recently raised with representatives of local education authorities the subject of discretionary awards for students; and whether she will make a statement.

§ Mr. Oakes
My officials met officers of the local authority associations on 23rd March. The first step is to establish to what extent, if any, local education authorities are cutting back on discretionary awards, and arrangements are being made to monitor the position.

§ Mr. Davies
Does my hon. Friend accept that monitoring is one thing and effective action is something entirely different? Is it not necessary to look closely at the question of the range of discretionary awards, bearing in mind the Government's declared priority of advancing the education opportunities of those in the 16 to 19 age group in particular?

§ Mr. Oakes
I think that my hon. Friend would agree that before one takes action one should know what the position is. That is why we shall be monitoring the position first. I share my hon. Friend's concern about the provision of education for the 16 to 19-year-old group, but I think it would be wrong to speculate what local authorities are doing until we know the exact position.

§ Mr. Carter-Jones
Does my hon. Friend accept that the discretionary grant system is a complete jungle? Does he also accept that the people who suffer most under discretionary grants are the children of poor parents, the disabled, and mature students seeking to obtain retraining? Would it not be better if he gave top priority to obtaining social justice for these deprived classes by reviewing discretionary grants?

§ Mr. Oakes
I think that we should monitor the position before any action is taken. In the recent announcement on student grants, we have included a 8 relaxation of the rules relating to previous study or late application, the introduction of age-related dependants' allowances, and improvements in mature student grants. I agree with my hon. Friend that we need to look at the discretionary award system. That is what we are doing, but we want the information first.