§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, because of the inner area problems, the 764W high number of school leavers unemployed and the small number of young people staying on at school after the statutory school leaving age, she will designate the Hull division of the Humberside education authority as one of the areas for introducing the pilot educational maintenance scheme for pupils over 16.
§ Mr. Oakes:I cannot yet say which areas will be selected to take part in the pilot programme. Only authorities wishing to take part will be considered, and of those a limited number will be selected so as to constitute an appropriate programme which will provide useful information about the possible impact of a national scheme and, at the same time, give some help to some of our more hard-pressed areas.