HC Deb 13 February 2002 vol 380 cc423-4W
Shona McIsaac

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many recipients of an educational maintenance allowance there are in North East Lincolnshire; and what assessment she has made of the impact of the allowance on encouraging 16 to 18-year-olds to stay in full-time education. [35319]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

As of the 1 February 2002, 478 students in North East Lincolnshire have received at least one payment of educational maintenance allowance (EMA) this academic year.

The DfES has commissioned the Centre for Research in Social Policy to conduct a rigorous evaluation of EMAs which is now in its third year of data collection. First year findings have already been published and these early findings show that EMA appears to have raised participation in further education. The statistical analysis estimates an average gain in participation in pilot areas compared to control areas, among EMA eligible young people, of around 5 percentage points.