§ Mrs. EllmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of education maintenance allowances in improving staying-on rates in Liverpool. [150152]
656W
§ Mr. Ivan Lewis[holding answer 26 January 2004]The independent evaluation of EMA began in September 1999 and assesses the impact of EMA among EMA-eligible young people in 10 of the first 15 pilot areas compared to 11 control areas. This evaluation estimated the impact nationally will be around 4.1 percentage points among the full cohort of young people.
Liverpool LEA began piloting EMA in September 2000 and is not formally part of the statistical evaluation. Therefore we do not have statistically reliable information on the exact impact of EMA in Liverpool. We do, however, collect information to assess participation by 16 and 17 year olds by LEA area. This data, which is available on the DfES website and includes information on the numbers of young people accepted for EMA, is replicated in the following table. Although we cannot say that EMA is the only factor causing the increase in participation, it must be a significant contributor to this effect.
Liverpool Age 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Participation in education (percentage of age group) 16 63 64 66 — — 17 48 48 48 — — Combined 55 56 57 — —
Number of students in further education colleges by LEA of student residency 1997–98 29,394 1998–99 31,075 1999–2000 30,161 2000–01 31,668 2001–02 35,059
Young people accepted for education maintenance allowance (EMA) 2000–01 3,300 2001–02 3,900