HC Deb 08 December 1993 vol 234 cc216-7W
Mr. Byers

To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many discretionary grants have been awarded by local education authorities to enable students to pursue(a) the legal practice course and (b) the bar finals;

(2) what is the standard level of discretionary grant given by local authorities for (a) legal practice course and (b) the bar finals course.

Mr. Boswell

The information requested is not collected centrally. The provision of discretionary awards is a matter for local education authorities, as is the value of such awards.

Mr. Byers

To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many students are currently taking(a) the legal practice course and (b) the bar finals course;

(2) how many self-financing students are currently taking (a) the legal practice course and (b) the bar finals course.

Mr. Boswell

Information from the Law Society shows that 6,566 students were enrolled on the legal practice course for 1993–94. For the bar finals course, the Council of Legal Education's statistics show that 1,022 students took the course in 1992–93. Figures for numbers of self-financing students are available only for the bar finals course. These show that during 1992–93 618 out of 1,022 students received no local authority grant.