Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts
Monday 11th November 2013

(11 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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The Secretary of State was asked—
Stephen Mosley Portrait Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)
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1. What estimate he has made of savings to the public purse arising from the abolition of the education maintenance allowance.

Matt Hancock Portrait The Minister for Skills and Enterprise (Matthew Hancock)
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By replacing the education maintenance allowance with the 16-to-19 bursary fund, we are saving £380 million every year and targeting help more sharply at the young people who need it most.

Stephen Mosley Portrait Stephen Mosley
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My local further education provider, West Cheshire college, is proving very effective at ensuring that the bursary fund helps those young people who most need it. What is my hon. Friend the Minister doing to ensure that the bursary fund is targeted at those most in need?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matthew Hancock
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My hon. Friend’s local FE college is not only very good; it is also the FE college I went to. I am glad to say that the 16-to-19 bursary fund allows colleges to target support at those who need it most. The most vulnerable receive a bursary of up to £1,200, which is far more than they could have received from EMA.