HC Deb 19 June 1990 vol 174 cc505-6W
Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he plans to publish details of how institutions of higher education will administer access funds.

Mr. Jackson

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mr. Griffihs) on 21 May 1990,Official Report, column 46.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will have any power to alter the criteria adopted by an institution of higher education in respect of access fund disbursement.

Mr. Jackson

Provided that an institution of higher education complies with the conditions of payment under which it receives an allocation from the access funds, the determining of criteria to be adopted for the disbursement of money from the funds to students is entirely a matter for the institution itself.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if individual students refuse an access fund award by their institution will be able to appeal against the decision.

Mr. Jackson

Institutions will be entirely responsible for the administration of their share of the access funds including the handling of appeals from individual students.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what guidance he will be issuing to institutions of higher education in respect of the disbursement of access funds; and what will be the nature of any such guidance.

Mr. Jackson

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mr. Griffiths) on 21 May 1990,Official Report, column 46. I understand that the Universities Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council will be issuing guidance to the institutions for which they are responsible by the end of June.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if students will have any powers of appeal in respect of the criteria adoped by an institution of higher education for the disbursement of access funds.

Mr. Jackson

It will be for the higher education institutions themselves to decide what criteria to adopt for the disbursement of the access funds and whether to consult their students about those criteria.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what guidance he is giving to institutions of higher education in respect of disabled students' needs when access funds are distributed.

Mr. Jackson

The Universities Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council will be responsible for giving guidance to institutions in their sectors on the distribution of the access funds. Paragraph 1 of the conditions of payment of the access funds to the two funding councils (a copy of which was placed in the Library on 21 May) make it clear that physical and other disabilities are among the possible reasons for financial difficulties which the access funds are intended to address.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what account will be taken of variations in regional housing costs in respect of the distribution of access funds to institutions of higher education.

Mr. Jackson

It will be for the two funding councils to determine how the access funds are to be distributed to institutions in their sectors. The factors which my right hon. Friend has invited the funding councils to take into account are set out in paragraph 5 of the notes of guidance for the UFC and the PCFC a copy of which was placed in the Library on 21 May. One of the factors isthe particular needs of students in private accommodation in areas where the cost of accommodation is especially high, eg London and the South East.