§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of people in receipt of school maintenance grants and allowances and her Department's estimate of the number of persons entitled to receive such grants; on what basis her Department's calculation is made; what are the total sums involved; and what were the corresponding figures in the past five years.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThe powers of local education authorities to grant educational maintenance allowances are discretionary and regular returns of numbers are not made to my department. The most recent detailed information available derives from an ad hoc survey which showed that for the autumn term 1974 the total number of allowances awarded in England and Wales was 6,880. Total expenditure by authorities for the years 1970–71 to 1975–76 respectively amounted to £1.886 million, £2.210 million, £1764 million, £1520 million, £1.041 million, and £1.475 million.