§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the cost of: (a) abolishing means tests on mandatory awards, (b) making all discretionary awards full non-means-tested mandatory awards, (c) making all discretionary awards into mandatory awards as currently constituted and (d) making all discretionary awards full non-means-tested mandatory awards if one abolishes the student child tax allowance.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsFor 1976–77, the approximate costs are estimated to be (a) £105 million, (b) £16 million, (c) £1 million and (d) £9 million.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many types of discretionary awards exist; how many students receive discretionary awards; and what is the cost of discretionary awards.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsLocal education authorities make discretionary awards either under Section 1(4) or Section 2 of the Education Act 1962. In 1974–75 they made some 50,000 discretionary major awards at a cost of about 333W £26 million; these exclude awards for HND courses which are now mandatory.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage of students on mandatory awards do not receive the full amount of the award; and what estimate her Department has made of the percentage of parents who do not pay the full parental contribution.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsIt is estimated that about 75 per cent. of these students have their awards reduced because of a parental contribution assessment and that of these about 70 per cent. do not receive the parental contribution in full. Thus, about half the students do not receive the full amount of the award. A survey of student income and expenditure giving further details will be published later this week.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what cut-backs there have been in the grants of mature students re-entering higher and further education and what cut-backs have occurred in the numbers of such students.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsThere has been no cut-back in the levels of mandatory grants for mature or other students. Information is not available about the levels of discretionary awards nor about the number of mature students enrolled for courses in the current academic year.