My Department is actively engaged in a programme of administrative and legislative reform of student grants.
A business process re-engineering exercise is being conducted in respect of the administration of student grants. This exercise, being undertaken as part of the Government's Transforming Public Services initiative, will involve an analysis of the existing schemes, services, processes and procedures to identify the improvements that can be made. It is designed to effect an enhancement both of the quality of customer service and the efficiency and value for money of service delivery. Alongside this initiative, the Department is engaged in the development of a new, more user-friendly application form for student grants. As part of the overall programme of reform, it is planned to make application forms available a good deal earlier in the year so that students can submit grant applications following completion of the CAO process. It is also planned to introduce earlier closing dates so that the process of assessing grant applications can be brought forward significantly to enable early decisions on grant applications to be made by the awarding authorities.