§ Mr. Craigenasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress is being made by the joint working group which is investigating the cost to public funds of abolishing the parental contribution system in respect of student grants; and when he hopes to be able to announce a decision on this matter.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe working group has completed its task, which was solely a fact-finding one. It estimated that in the academic year 1973–74 the cost of abolishing the parental contribution in Great Britain would have been about £63 mil-320W lion, and that if at the same time tax relief to parents in respect of their student children had been withdrawn, the net cost of abolishing the parental contribution might have been between £22 million and £31 million, depending on the basis on which tax relief was withdrawn. In view of the considerable sums involved, I see no immediate prospect of abolishing the parental contribution.