§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how(a) participation rates and (b) attainment levels (i) of pupils and (ii) of areas benefiting from education maintenance allowances compare with those not so benefiting; [18620]
(2) if she proposes to publish evidence on the educational benefits of education maintenance allowances before taking a decision about roll-out; and when that will be. [18621]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisEducation Maintenance Allowance (EMA) pilots are being evaluated over a three-year period, and we will be basing our decisions about any national roll-out on the evaluation evidence. From the beginning, we have made clear our commitment to publishing reports which set out the independent evaluators' main conclusions. The first reports were published in March this year and the next report is due for publication early in 2002. The quantitative analysis which is being carried out compares performance in the areas where we are piloting EMAs against "control areas" where EMA is not available.
Early findings from the evaluation show that EMA appears to have raised participation in education. The statistical analysis estimates an average gain in participation in pilot areas compared to control areas, among EMA eligible young people, of around five percentage points.
Although we do not yet have figures on attainment, the qualitative aspect of the evaluation has found some evidence of a positive effect on young people's performance and commitment to study.