§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give a breakdown by education authority of the total amounts paid out in each of the last five years for which figures are available on (a) mandatory maintenance awards and (b) discretionary maintenance awards.
§ Mr. BrookeThe information is not readily available on an individual local authority basis. Total such expenditure in England and Wales was as follows:
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Local authority expenditure in full.value awards* Mandatory £ million Discretionary £ million 1978–79 271.9 43.5 1979–80 332.2 49.5 1980–81 398.1 52.9 1981–82 443.3 55.2 1982–83 472.0 59.0 * Excluding expenditure on fees. Numbers of students receiving such awards by LEA are however given in Statistical Bulletin 3/84, a cop) of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students in receipt of mandatory maintenance awards received only the minimum grant in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. BrookeInformation on mandatory award-holders alone is not available. The number of all full value maintenance award-holders receiving a minimum award in each of the last five years was as follows:
Number 1978–79 25,143 1979–80 28,402 1980–81 30,648 1981–82 39,391 1982–83 47,520
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the total annual amount of assessed parental contribution towards student maintenance grants in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. BrookeThe amount of assessed parental contribution in respect of mandatory awards is as follows:
£ million 1978–79 89 1979–80 84 1980–81 98 1981–82 127 1982–83 155
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students in receipt of mandatory maintenance grants were assessed for nil parental contribution in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. BrookeThe following information relates to the number of full-value mandatory and discretionary award-holders in England and Wales. Information in respect of mandatory award-holders alone is not available.
Numbers of students assessed for nil parental contribution Thousands 1978–79 93.2 1979–80 105.6 1980–81 113.1 1981–82 117.4 1982–83 109.8
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will estimate the percentage of parents' income after tax and national insurance which would be required for parental contributions to student maintenance and tuition fees in 1985–86 assuming existing rates, and publish a table showing the effects for incomes of £14,000 to £50,000 per annum before allowing for fixed commitments such as mortgage payments and so on.
§ Mr. BrookeI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North (Mr. Marlow) on 23 November at columns 341–42. The table extends the previous table to cover gross income up to £50,000: 155W
'000 Family Gross Income (1984–85 Financial year) of which Husband's earnings Wife's earnings Net Income after tax and national insurance Parental contribution 1985–86 1985–86 Parental contribution as per cent, of 1984–85 net income £ £ £ £ £ £ 31,000 18,600 12,400 21,599 4,000 18.5 32,000 19,200 12,800 22,278 4,000 18.0 33,000 19,800 13,200 22,967 4,000 17.4 34,000 20,400 13,600 23,655 4,000 16.9 35,000 21,000 14,000 24,313 4,000 16.5 36,000 21,600 14,400 24,971 4,000 16.0 37,000 22,200 14,800 25,629 4,000 15.6 38,000 22,800 15,200 26,287 4,000 15.2 39,000 23,400 15,600 26,929 4,000 14.9 40,000 24,000 16,000 27,558 4,000 14.5 41,000 24,600 16,400 28,188 4,000 14.2 42,000 25,200 16,800 28,817 4,000 13.9 43,000 25,800 17,200 29,447 4,000 13.6 44,000 26,400 17,600 30,076 4,000 13.3 45,000 27,000 18,000 30,706 4,000 13.0 46,000 27,600 18,400 31,328 4,000 12.8 47,000 28,200 18,800 31,919 4,000 12.5 48,000 28,800 19,200 32,483 4,000 12.3 49,000 29,400 19,600 33,046 4,000 12.1 50,000 30,000 20,000 33,609 4,000 11.9
1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 Numbers of students (000's): Receiving a maximum full-value award 132.2 143.9 151.9 159.2 152.4 Percentage of total 35.8 39.0 40.0 39.9 36.6 Receiving only a part of a full-value award 211.9 197.0 196.9 200.7 216.1 Percentage of total 57.4 53.3 51.9 50.3 51.9 Receiving a minimum award 25.1 28.4 30.6 39.4 47.5 Percentage of total 6.8 7.7 8.1 9.9 11.4 All students with mandatory and discretionary full value awards 369.2 369.4 379.4 399.3 416.0 Percentage of total 100 100 100 100 100
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the numbers of students for each of the last three years who have become eligible for maximum grant because of increases in the threshold for parental contributions.
§ Mr. BrookeIn 1982–83 the threshold for parental contributions was held constant at £6,600 and 15,000 to 20,000 additional families were assessed for parental contribution. In 1983–84 and 1984–85 the threshold has been raised in line with the rise in average parental incomes and the proportion of dependent students eligible for a maximum award has therefore remained broadly the same as that in 1982–83.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, before rejecting proposals for a student partial loan scheme, he considered possible means of funding such a scheme from the private sector; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BrookeA number of options for the possible replacement of all or part of the grant by a loan, including
156WNotes:
The contribution payable in each case may be less than the amounts shown in the scale, particularly at its top end. This will depend on the amount of the award (maintenance and fees) towards which the contribution has to be made and whether any of the assessed contribution is offset by allowances for other dependent children.
Families with one award-holder studying outside London and with no other dependent children will be assessed to contribute on average no more than £2,412.
In 1985–86 there will be a maximum parental contribution of £4,000 per family.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what estimate he made of salary increases in calculating that 10,000 families will be relieved of the need to contribute towards student grants.
§ Mr. BrookeSome 10,000 families who would otherwise have been assessed for a contribution towards the student grant next year will not be so assessed as a result of the indexation of the threshold of the parental contribution scale by around 7 per cent.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the numbers of students in receipt of a maximum grant, part grant and minimum grant, respectively, for each of the last five years for which figures are available, expressing these numbers in percentage terms.
§ Mr. BrookeThe information for England and Wales was as follows:
a private sector scheme, have been considered by Ministers. The Government have at present no intention of replacing any part of the student grant by a loan.
Any reform of the student support system, whether or not involving loans, would be introduced only after wide consultation.
§ Mr. Bellinghamasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will show the parental contribution payable in 1985–86 at residual incomes of £8,000 and £50,000 for maintenance and tuition fees for one student at a provincial university.
§ Mr. BrookeThe parental contributions are as follows:
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Residual Income Assessed Parental Contribution 8,000 — 9,000 148 10,000 291 12,000 674 14,000 1,074 16,000 1,524 18,000 2,024
Residual Income Assessed Parental Contribution 20,000 *2,345 25,000 2,345 30,000 2,345 40,000 2,345 50,000 2,345 * Equivalent to the elsewhere rate of student grant plus the designated fee of £520. In the case of families with more than one student, the assessed parental contribution will rise incrementally at a rate of £1 for every £4 of residual income to a maximum of £4,000 per family (at a residual income of £25,904).