HC Deb 08 March 1995 vol 256 cc209-10W
Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students are in receipt of discretionary grants for the latest year for which figures are available; and what are the main subjects or courses being studied.

Mr. Boswell

Local authority returns show that my Department in 1992–93, the latest year for which data are available, there were 220,000 discretionary awards. A total of 24,000 awards were for courses of higher education of which 3,000 were for postgraduate courses; and 196,000 awards were for further education courses. Information on the subjects studied by award holders is not collected centrally.

Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what advice her Department gives to local education authorities regarding the financing of student courses on a discretionary basis; and what advice her Department gives to the Department of the Environment regarding the provision of finance for discretionary grants.

Mr. Boswell

It is for individual local education authorities to determine their own discretionary awards policies in the light of local needs and priorities. The

GUEST Allocation for Special Educational Needs 1994–95 and 1995–96
£ thousand
(a) (b) (c)
LEA Training for SEN specialisms 1994–95 Training for SEN specialisms 1995–96 School SEN policies 1994–95 School SEN policies1995–96 SEN Parent partnership schemes 1994–95 SEN Parent partnership schemes 1995–96
Corporation of London 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.0 0.3
Camden 44.0 39.8 13.2 24.8 23.0 23.0
Greenwich 76.4 75.6 23.0 44.7 18.0 20.0
Hackney 37.0 37.5 19.7 35.3 31.0 35.5
Hammersmith 69.0 63.0 11.9 22.4 10.0 10.0
Islington 80.0 137.4 16.7 32.8 10.0 13.0
Kensington and Chelsea 24.0 21.6 7.6 13.4 10.0 10.0
Lambeth 28.5 51.3 21.2 34.8 24.0 30.5
Lewisham 72.9 65.0 21.2 40.7 49.0 52.5

Department does not produce any central guidance on this issue.

The Department keeps the Department of the Environment abreast of spending needs in this area, and discusses with them and the local authority associations the provision of funding to local education authorities.