§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the eligibility criteria for students who wish to obtain individual learning accounts. [136180]
§ Mr. Wicks[holding answer 2 November 2000]: In England, people aged 19 and over can open an Individual Learning Account and benefit from the incentives. There is no upper age limit for account holding. To hold an Individual Learning Account people must be settled in the UK under the Immigration Act 1971, or be European Economic Area nationals working in the UK, or have the right to remain in the UK. Account holders must be resident in England or, if resident outside of England, be ordinarily resident in England (i.e. living abroad temporarily). The only exception to this is for UK armed forces personnel, who qualify for an Individual Learning Account while serving abroad.
§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the discount arrangements for students who wish to pursue courses of study lasting(a) one, (b) two, (c) three and (d) more than three years. [136182]
§ Mr. Wicks[holding answer 2 November 2000]: Individual Learning Account incentives are made available to individuals on a rolling year basis. For new account holders their account holding year starts when they first book learning using their account. Under current arrangements the first 1 million account holders to book eligible learning can benefit from a £150 contribution towards their course costs, providing they contribute at least £25 themselves. In second and subsequent years account holders can get a 20 per cent. discount on a wide range of learning up to a maximum of £100 in each year.
Account holders can also claim an 80 per cent. discount on a limited number of basic IT and maths courses up to a maximum of £200 in each year. The most anyone can claim in any one year is £200. Limits on how much individuals can claim through the incentives in their account holding year ensure that as many individuals as possible benefit from Individual Learning Accounts. If the course costs are split across more than one academic year, account holders will be able to use each annual entitlement to help pay for the learning costs.