§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is satisfied that existing provisions for university and college students are adequate to ensure that no student who can benefit from such education will be deprived of the opportunity for financial reasons.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThere are now more students in higher education than ever before and the percentage of young people involved is the highest ever. Moreover, our awards system is more generous than those of other developed countries: no other country provides mandatory grant support at a similar level or devotes as high a proportion of its gross national product to student support as we do.
§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to ensure that the minimum weekly grant income for subsistence purposes of a student aged 18 years and over following a full-time course in education is at least £23.60 per week, and for students aged 16 and 17 years at least £180.20 per week.
§ Mr. WaldenStudents on mandatory and full value discretionary awards currently receive, subject to a means test, £53.70 per week in term time. To extend the grant system so that all students over 18 in England and Wales received £230.60 per week and all students aged 16 and 17 received £18.20 would cost in the region of an additional £480 million per annum.