§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he will review the operations of the discretionary grant system as it affects students of the performing arts.
§ Mr. BoswellThe responsibility for making discretionary awards rests with local education authorities. The early results of a national survey led by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Sir John Cass' Foundation show total numbers of discretionary awards bestowed and total local education authority spending on discretionary awards above the levels of three years ago. My right hon. Friend awaits with interest the full results of the survey, which are expected in March.
Mr. Robert AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the percentage of all dependent72W students receiving a full maintenance grant, and the percentage of those receiving no maintenance grant, assuming residual parental income is calculated without the benefit of a covenant agreement, for each of the academic years 1988–89, 1989–90 and 1990–91; if he will calculate the percentage change across this period; and if he will make a statement on the causes of the changes over that period.
§ Mr. BoswellIn determining the residual parental income under the regulations, any deductions made for income tax purposes in respect of payments made under covenant are disregarded.
Information on the percentage of dependent students receiving a full maintenance grant under the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations and those receiving nil maintenance are given.
Percentage of dependent students receiving full and nil maintenance in England and Wales 1988–89 1989–90 1990–911 Percentage Point change 1988–89 to 1990–91 Full maintenance 29.1 27.4 27.1 -2.0 Nil maintenance 28.2 29.1 29.0 0.8 1 Calculated from subset of LEAs able to provide data. The changing distribution reflects the effects of a range of, sometimes conflicting, factors including the economic climate over the period and the changing socio-economic composition of the parents of mandatory award holders.