§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the outcome was of the evaluation of the Education Maintenance Allowance pilot scheme. [107173]
§ Margaret HodgeAn independent evaluation of EMA's has been taking place since 1999. The evaluation has tested the effectiveness of the scheme in increasing participation. Evidence from the second year of the pilots, which was published in July 2002, shows that EMAs have increased the number of eligible young people in full time education in year 12 in pilot areas by 73W 5.9 percentage points compared to the local authority areas without EMAs. The EMA scheme will be available from September 2004 across the whole of England. The evaluation is continuing. Reports on implementation and on vulnerable young people were published in March 2003. Forthcoming reports include a qualitative report to be published later this month and the 3rd year quantitative report due in the autumn.