§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what increases in the cost of living in London have caused grants to London-based postgraduate students to be increased by 20.2 per cent. compared with the increase of only 9.2 per cent. in the grant for students living elsewhere, for the academic year 1978–79.
§ Mr. Oakes:The annual increases in grants are intended to maintain the real value of the grant. The increases for 1978–79 took account of evidence that student accommodation costs in London had increased much more rapidly than elsewhere in the country.
§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science why dependants' allowances for postgraduate students in the academic year 1978-79 have been reduced.
§ Mr. Oakes:The allowance for an adult dependant—or for the first dependent child, if there is no adult dependant—was increased from £480 to £645. Allowances for other dependent children were reduced in order to take account of the increases in child benefit payments in November 1978 and April 1979.