§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if the current 21-hour rule enabling unemployed people to study while receiving benefit will be reduced to 16 guided learning hours when the jobseeker's allowance is introduced in Wales; what distinction will be made in respect of the treatment of unemployed people who take up places in(a) further and (b) higher education courses; and if he will make a statement. [1138]
§ Mr. ForthI have been asked to reply.
Full-time students will not be able to receive jobseeker's allowance. People receiving JSA will, however, will be able to study part time, as long as they meet the entitlement conditions, which include being available for actively seeking employment. This carries forward existing arrangements.
In higher education, courses continue to be classed as either full-time or part-time and so the existing rules distinguishing between people on such courses can—and consequently will—be carried forward into JSA. In further education, however, courses are no longer defined as full-time or part-time, and the rules under JSA will reflect this. Courses funded, in whole or in part, by the Further Education Funding Councils for Wales and England will be considered to be part-time if they are of no more than 16 guided learning hours per week. While those courses in Wales are not, as they are in England, defined by the number of guided learning hours, further education colleges in Wales will nevertheless be able to provide statements of the number of guided learning hours attributed to their courses using the same definition.
These rules are designed to allow the same number of people to study part time while unemployed and receiving benefit as do so under the current rules.