HC Deb 04 April 1995 vol 257 cc991-2W
Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what regard she has and what consideration she gives in calculating student loans to students who are expected to continue their academic studies for considerable periods of the summer vacations and who are therefore excluded from being able to seek work; and what distinction she draws between students who are undertaking long courses financed by Erasmus or by commercial undertakings and students on medical courses who do not have access to this funding. [17515]

Mr. Boswell

An additional week's allowance, which forms part of the means-tested mandatory award, is available to students who attend their courses for longer than 30 weeks and three days in the academic year. The full-year loan rate is intended to provide support throughout the year. Any payments made to a student under the terms of the Erasmus scheme are disregarded as income for the purposes of calculating his award. Where a student receives payments by way of a bursary or remuneration from a commercial undertaking his award for the year may be reduced or extinguished, depending upon the value of the payments.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students in higher education are on courses which extend beyond the average academic year; how many would be regarded as being on long courses within the meaning of the rules for student loans; and what percentage of these are medical students. [17513]

Mr. Boswell

This information is not held centrally.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reason she declined to meet the chairman of the British Medical Association's medical student representatives. [17516]

Mr. Boswell

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Ms Jones) on Tuesday, 28 March 1995Official Report, column 577.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what extra weeks allowances have been made available to medical students during 1994–95; by what percentage they were uprated; if the calculation on which the uprating has been based refers to the entire academic year or to the calendar year; what is the level of student finance available for a medical student during extra weeks and during ordinary weeks; why the distinction is made in the amount of money available over those two periods; what is the amount of money available in real terms for extra weeks and ordinary weeks; and if she will make a statement. [17514]

Mr. Boswell

Under the current Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations, the additional allowances in respect of extra attendance are: £74.05 per week for students living away from the parental home and studying in London; £55.45 per week for students living away from home and studying elsewhere; and £38.90 per week for students living at home. These rates were uprated by 4 per cent. over the 1993–94 allowances and the regulations apply to the year which began on 1 September 1994. The normal main rates of grant and additional allowances, as well as full and final year rates of student loans, are available to eligible medical students in the same way as for all other students. The extra weeks allowance is available for students who are required to attend their courses over and above a period of 30 weeks and three days in any academic year—25 weeks and three days in the case of courses at Oxford and Cambridge universities. There is no arithmetical connection between the extra weeks allowances and the corresponding main grant rates when those rates are expressed in weekly terms.