asked the Minister for Education the maximum income figure above which a higher education grant is not payable at present; and the income figure which would apply if the ceiling had been raised in line with the percentage rise in average earnings since the scheme was first introduced in 1968.
Written Answers. - Higher Education Grant.
363.
The maximum income figure for a family of six or more dependent children in the scheme for 1968 was £2,200. The corresponding figure for 1979 is £6,100. The income figure which would apply in 1978 if based rigidly on the percentage increase in average weekly earnings in manufacturing industry from March 1977 to March 1978 would be £4,809. Figures for the year March 1978 to March 1979 are not available. I have, however, increased the upper limit in the grants scheme to £5,100 for 1978 and to £6,100 for 1979.
364.
asked the Minister for Education the figure at which the maximum higher education grant would now stand if it had been fully adjusted upwards to take account of inflation since it was first introduced in 1968; and the present figure.
The maximum higher education grant payable in the academic year 1968-69 was £300. If this figure were adjusted upwards in line with inflation as measured by increases in the consumer price index from August 1968 to August 1979 the maximum value of a grant would now be £1,080.9. The maximum higher education grant for the academic year 1979-80 is £1,082.