HC Deb 26 October 1972 vol 843 cc388-90W
Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the waiving of the three-year residential qualification for educational grants being made by the Ugandan Resettlement Board for immigrant Asians will apply to all persons at present and those who have applied in the past for the grants without a three-year residential qualification

Mr. van Straubenzee

The invitation extended by my right hon. Friend to local education authorities to waive, in the exercise of their discretionary powers, normal residential requirements for the award of grants refers solely to Ugandan Asians, and their dependants, who were ordinarily resident in Uganda on 4th August 1972, and who entered the United Kingdom on British passports. Students satisfying this definition may be either already attending a course of study in this country or newcomers whose education in Uganda has been interrupted by expulsion and who wish to pursue their studies in institutions of higher or further education here.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the rule and regulation concerning the financial grants and awards to suitably qualified students undertaking a first degree or designated comparable course at a university or college in the United Kingdom of a three-year United Kingdom residential qualification is being applied to the Ugandan Asian immigrants; under what statutory authority these regulations may be waived; and whether British-born citizens will also be granted the same privileges.

Mr. van Straubenzee

Awards to Uganda Asians who entered the United Kingdom on British passports, and their dependants, are made by local education authorities under their discretionary powers, and not under statutory regulations. The arrangements which govern the grant of discretionary awards are in all cases a matter for the local education authorities.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she is aware of the concern felt by British born applicants for education grants who have been refused such grants, who now find that Ugandan Asians are receiving these grants; and whether she will see that all applicants are treated on an equitable basis.

Mr. van Straubenzee

No such representations have been made to my right hon. Friend. Local education authorities have been asked, when exercising their discretionary powers, to treat Asians expelled from Uganda on the same basis as those who satisfy normal residence requirements.