§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is his policy on providing timely information to local education authorities in order to enable them to respond to individual inquiries about the proposed introduction of top-up loans for students;
(2) what arrangements he made for the distribution of copies of the White Paper "Top-up Loans for Students" to local education authorities; whether there was any delay in this distribution; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. JacksonThe Department sent copies of the White Paper to the local authority associations and copies were available for purchase by individual authorities when it was published on 9 November. The Department does not normally distribute copies of priced publications to local education authorities. Local education authorities received copies of the Department's press notice announcing the publication.