§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support is available for intercalating students; and if she will make a statement. [3319]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 10 July 2001]: Under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2001, full-time students who are absent from their course because of illness are entitled to continue to receive student support for the first 60 days of absence. Before academic year 1998–99 this was only 28 days. Local education authorities have the discretion to decide whether such students should continue to receive support after the first 60 days absence.
Students who remain ill for more than a period of 28 weeks may become eligible at that stage to receive income support and housing benefit. Local education authorities have the discretion to continue support to sick students waiting to receive income support.
555WLEAs also have a discretion under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2001 to continue paying student support to students who temporarily suspend their courses for reasons other than illness.
We have made it clear in our guidance that local education authorities should exercise their discretion sympathetically in considering the cases of intercalation which come to them. Among the factors they must consider in coming to a decision is the possibility of financial hardship.
Students who temporarily suspend their courses may also receive assistance from the hardship fund at their institution's discretion. The hardship fund allows universities and colleges to provide discretionary support
GCSE GCE A-level 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 (a) Independent schools Urdu 380 435 439 508 728 56 105 23 85 113 Bengali 35 36 38 37 36 — 1 2 — 2 Gujarati 87 111 97 93 136 — — — — — Hindi — — — — — 3 6 4 1 — Chinese 1,243 1,283 1,203 1,112 1,277 750 677 825 888 961 Any modem language 46,211 44,501 42,202 41,538 41,876 9,505 9,510 9,310 9,240 8,711 (b) State schools Urdu 5,617 5,661 5.525 5,732 5,722 231 240 182 205 226 Bengali 1,939 2,061 2,011 2,056 1,967 30 26 36 9 15 Gujarati 1,015 1,043 832 1,009 1,017 — — — — — Hindi — — — — — 14 3 3 3 — Chinese 493 574 546 596 593 59 72 87 107 133 Any modern language 391,440 388,408 408,264 421,523 425,546 13,890 13,687 13,499 13,048 11,825
§ Dr. StarkeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students obtained GCSE and A-level examinations in(a) Urdu, (b) Bengali, (c) Gujerati, (d) Hindi, (e) Mandarin, (f) Cantonese and (g) modern languages in each of the last five years. [1299]
§ Mr. Ivan Lewis[pursuant to his reply, 3 July 2001, c. 81W]: The table contained an error. The corrected table is given as follows.
The number of students of all ages who obtained GCSE and GCE A-level passes in the various languages over the last five years are shown in the table. Figures for Mandarin and Cantonese are not available, data for Chinese as a whole have been provided instead.
556W
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 GCSE (a) Urdu 6,658 6,660 6,370 6,497 6,677 (b) Bengali 2,116 2,220 2,146 2,152 2,041 (c) Gujerati 1,313 1,309 1,026 1,189 1,200 (d) Hindi — — — — — (e) (f) Chinese 1,956 2,048 1,937 1,917 2,028 (g) All modern languages 450,244 444,639 460,186 472,010 476.050 GCE A-level (a) Urdu 833 837 591 746 725 (b) Bengali 99 98 108 37 53 (c) Gujerati — — — — — (d) Hindi 31 19 13 8 — (e) (f) Chinese 972 887 1,074 1,165 1,225 (g) All modern languages 32,937 32,340 31,298 30,224 27,455 for students in particular need; and a total of £87 million has been made available in England for the 2000–01 academic year.