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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) in which education authority areas pupils are able to benefit from the education maintenance allowance; and how many qualify in each; [169119] (2) in which education authority areas pupils are not able to benefit from the education maintenance allowance; and how many would have qualified for the allowance in each; [169120] (3) what estimate he has made of the likely take-up of education maintenance allowance and the costs. [169121] Mr. Ivan Lewis: At present, young people are able to receive an education maintenance allowance (EMA) if they live in one of the 56 LEA pilot areas listed in table one. This table also shows for each LEA area the numbers of young people who have benefited from EMA in each area. It should be noted that different LEAs have been testing different versions of the scheme, in order to inform our decisions about the best national model. Table one: EMA pilot areas and recipients in 2003/04 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Local education authority Number of students who have received EMA in 2003/04 Barking and Dagenham 924 Barnsley 1,377 Birmingham 9,780 Bolton 2,227 Bradford 4,417 Brent 1,767 Camden 1,206 Cornwall 4,968 Coventry 1,089 Doncaster 2,492 Ealing 1,618 Gateshead 1,780 Greenwich 1,404 Hackney 1,887 Halton 1,127 Hammersmith and Fulham 853 Haringey 1,183 Hartlepool 807 Islington 1,324 Kingston upon Hull 2,025 Knowsley 1,943 Lambeth 1,603 Lancashire (East) 2,268 Leeds 4,764 Leicester 3,554 Lewisham 1,903 Lincolnshire (N.E.) 1,364 Liverpool 4,821 Luton 1,796 Manchester 4,554 Middlesbrough 1,112 Newham 2,577 North Tyneside 1,500 Northumberland 2,632 Nottingham 2,907 Oldham 2,510 Salford 1,212 Sandwell 1,872 Sheffield 3,876 Southampton 1,285 Southwark 1,370 South Tyneside 1,604 St. Helens 1,428 Stoke on Trent 2,705 Suffolk 2,460 Sunderland 2,287 Tameside 2,117 Tower Hamlets 2,754 Wakefield 2,249 Walsall 2,473 Waltham Forest 1,140 Wandsworth 1,055 Wigan 2,453 Wirral 2,457 Wolverhampton 2,377 Worcestershire 2,960 England--total 128,197 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. From September 2004, the national EMA scheme will be available throughout England to all young people aged 16 at the start of the 2004/05 academic year who meet the eligibility criteria. It will also to be available to 17 and 18-year-olds in the pilot areas. Our forecast is that around 270,000 young people will take up EMA in 2004/05. By 2006 EMA will provide support to over 400,000 young people. 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.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

420 c1755-6W; 169119;169120;169121

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Costs Further education Eligibility Grants Education maintenance allowance Local education authorities Pupils Take-up Sixth form education

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk