HC Deb 19 March 1990 vol 169 cc419-20W
Mr. Norris

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to improve the support for disabled students in higher education.

Mr. MacGregor

Disabled students need special help to enable them to take full advantage of higher education opportunities. I propose to improve the arrangements for them in two major ways.

First, subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary regulations in due course, I intend to increase substantially the disabled students' allowance payable within the mandatory award by local education authorities in England and Wales. For the academic year 1990–91 the maximum allowance will be raised from the present £765 to £1,000. In addition, two further allowances will be introduced: one for non-medical personal helpers, such as interpreters for the deaf, up to a maximum of £4,000 a year; and the other for major items of specialist equipment, such as word processors with braille printers, up to a maximum of £3,000 spread over the whole course. The Department will be taking steps to ensure that local education authorities and disabled students are fully aware of the new arrangements. Parallel improvements will be made in the grant arrangements for disabled students from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

When top-up loans are introduced this autumn subject to the passage of the Bill before Parliament, disabled students will also be eligible for relevant social security benefits, as well as for the new disabled students' allowances and for existing allowances for extra travel costs and vacation hardship within the mandatory award system Together with the basic award, these should provide adequate resources to meet disabled students' needs while studying. Indeed, overall, disabled students will have considerable additional resources at their disposal as a result of the introduction of loans on top of their continuing grants and benefits.

Secondly, I accept, however, that disabled graduates' capacity to repay loans may be affected by extra living costs resulting from their disability. Such costs will generally be reflected in social security benefit entitlements. As these benefits are provided specifically in relation to the additional costs faced by the disabled, it would not be appropriate to take them into account in assessing disabled graduates' liability to repay. I therefore propose to disregard disability-related benefits when graduates' income is assessed for the purpose of deferment of loan repayments. This means, in effect, that a graduate whose gross income including disability-related benefits is above the deferment threshold, but whose income net of these benefits is below the threshold, will be able to defer loan repayments.

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