§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what information he has regarding local authorities which have ceased to offer any discretionary awards to students in further education.
§ Mr. Boswell[holding answer 12 April 1994]: The latest returns by local education authorities to the Department indicate that in 1992–93 the following six authorities made no further education discretionary awards: Haringey, Harrow, Isles of Scilly, Newham, Sunderland, Westminster. Six authorities have yet to make returns on their discretionary awards expenditure. The recently published Gulbenkian report stated that nine LEAs, not named in the report, planned to make no new discretionary awards in 1993–94.
§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what information he has regarding local authorities refusing to consider granting discretionary awards to students in further education due to the college's being located outside the local authority area where the student lives.
§ Mr. Boswell[holding answer 15 April 1994]: Local education authorities are free to decide their own discretionary awards policies in the light of local needs and circumstances, their priorities, and the resources available
342W
15-year-old pupils in maintained schools 1992–93 Number not attempting any GCSE Total number of 15-Year-old pupils Percentage not attempting any GCSE Number of schools Less than 60 pupils 164 4,386 3.7 96 60–89 1244 25,375 4.9 330 90–119 3,303 75,273 4.4 714 120–159 3,542 88,396 4.0 654 150–179 3,981 104,042 3.8 633 180–209 2,640 73,477 3.6 381 210–239 1,425 43,677 3.3 195 240 and over 1,867 52,550 3.6 187 Total 18,166 467,176 3.9 3,190 to them. My right hon. Friend has no power to intervene and does not seek information on their policies on a regular basis.