Written question asked by David Laws (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 9 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 11 January 2006. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Monday, 16 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.
Post-16 Education
- Question
- To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the effect on staying-on rates of the introduction of the education maintenance allowance; and if she will make a statement.
- Answer
-
EMA was subject to one of the most comprehensive evaluations of any educational initiative. It was piloted in 10 areas (plus five others in London/Leeds) and the evaluation followed two cohorts of 16-year-olds for four years from 1999/2000 and 2000/01. Their outcomes were compared to those of matched individuals in 11 control areas. It was rolled out to a further 41 area in 2000/01 so that it was operating in around one third of the country.The results indicated that EMA increased participation of eligible young people in the pilot areas by 5.9 percentage points. This is equivalent to an increase in participation of all 16-year-olds across the whole country of 3.8 percentage points. There was a particularly strong impact for key target groups:"young males (1.2 times impact),""none/low/middle achievers (1.3 to 1.7 times impact)""lower SEG groups (1.3 to 1.6 times impact)"The results also showed positive impacts on retention from Y13 to Y14, and also on an individual's attachment to education, as measured by number of terms which they stay in education to age 19.EMA was rolled out to 16-year-olds in the remaining two thirds of the country in September 2004. There was a 1.9 percentage point increase in participation of 16-year-olds in full-time education between 2003/04 and 2004/05. This is in line with the increase in participation which was expected from the roll out of EMA and is the largest increase in participation for over 10 years. While it is not possible to say that all of the increase was due to EMA, this was one of the most important initiatives aimed at increasing participation. The Department and LSC will be doing further analyses of local participation when these become available to try to get a better estimate of the change which might be due to EMA. EMA was rolled out to 17-year-olds in September 2005 and will be fully rolled out to 18-year-olds from September 2006.This year the LSC has adopted the strategy of measuring EMA take-up to show early impact of the scheme locally. Volumes are on target, and take-up among poorer students is higher than originally projected, which is the group upon whom EMA is likely to have the greatest beneficial effect. Take-up among 16-year-olds largely met or exceeded estimated figures in 2004/05. Where take-up is lower than anticipated, the local LSC targets additional support to raise awareness of EMA and increase the figures.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 41454; 441 c1014-5W
- Session
- 2005-06
- Related items
- Subjects
- Education Education maintenance allowance Young people
- Contains statistics
- Yes
- Link
- View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
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- 2013-11-25 15:24:19 +0000
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