HC Deb 12 May 2004 vol 421 c420W
Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what cost estimate his Department has made of the educational maintenance allowance over the next three years. [167989]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

The Department estimates the cost of the Education Maintenance Allowance Scheme over the next three financial years to be:

£ million
2004–05 275
2005–06 403
2006–07 476

These estimates take account of the phased roll-out to one cohort at a time and the cost of administering, promoting and evaluating the scheme. They take account of new estimates on population of young people and household income distribution.