HC Deb 14 May 2004 vol 421 cc622-3W
Colin Burgon

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the cost of introducing the educational maintenance allowance in schools in England. [173394]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

The Education Maintenance Allowance Scheme will be available in colleges as well as schools. The Department estimates the overall cost for the next three financial years to be:

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

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 of the population of young people and household income distribution.