§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment, further to his answer of 21 June,Official Report, column 286, on the introduction of jobseeker's allowance, if claimants participating in courses not funded by the Further Education Funding Council, including European social fund courses and non-schedule 2 courses, will continue to be able to participate in up to 21 hours per week of supervised study. [32334]
§ Miss WiddecombeIt is not the case that the current rules allow unemployed people claiming benefits to study for up to 21 hours a week in all circumstances. The rules allow part-time study. Decisions on whether a course is part-time or full-time are made by independent adjudication officers applying the legislation. This will be carried forward into jobseeker's allowance. In the particular case of courses funded by the Further Education Funding Council the new rule for JSA will be that courses of over 16 guided learning hours per week will be classed as full-time. This rule change will not apply to non-schedule 2 courses or courses part-funded by the European social fund which are not also funded by the FEFC or to higher education where the rules will continue to specify "part-time".