§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the access funds;
(2) what plans exist to increase the size of the access funds;
(3) what representations he has received about the adequacy of the access funds.
§ Mr. FormanThe present access funds are adequate for their purpose if properly targeted. The Government will consider future provision in this year's public expenditure survey. This will take into account representations received from various organisations and institutions.
§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the current size of the access funds; what is the total number of students eligible for those funds; and what were the size of the funds and the number of students when the access funds were first introduced.
§ Mr. FormanThis year £25.8 million is available for England, Wales and Scotland and an estimated 863,000 higher and further education students are eligible for the access funds. For 1990–91 the figures were £25 million and 768,000 students. It is for institutions to decide which students should receive payments from their funds.