Education: Finance

(asked on 7th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Social Mobility Commission's report The road not taken: the drivers of course selection, published on 30 March, what steps they intend to take to reintroduce a form of Education Maintenance Allowance in England.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 16th June 2021

The department provides a range of financial support for students to enable them to participate in post-16 education. This includes free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education (travel, books and equipment), support for childcare and assistance with residential costs.

We have recently changed the way we allocate funding for discretionary bursaries to colleges, school sixth forms and other providers of 16-19 education, following a consultation. As a result, institutions whose students will tend to face higher travel costs, who travel further or live in rural areas, will receive more funding to provide support to students who need it. As normal with the 16-19 bursary fund, it will be for those institutions to identify which students need this support and how to provide this, for example, to purchase or contribute to the cost of a travel pass. We are now transitioning to the new allocation method, beginning in the 2020/21 academic year. Overall, this will ensure a better match between bursary allocations and the needs of students.

We have no plans to reintroduce an Education Maintenance Allowance.

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