Vol. 508 No. 1
948 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Science the date on which application forms for third level grant purposes were made available to the local authorities by his Department in 1999; if he will make these grant forms available earlier in the next academic year; the further improvements, if any, he will make in the administration of the third level grant scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18284/99]
The higher education grants scheme 1999 issued to all local authorities on the 8 July 1999 and arrangements had been made to have copies of the application forms and notes delivered by courier to all local authority offices earlier that week. The delay in the issue of the schemes is attributable in part to the introduction this year of a a composite application form for all four student support schemes. The application form and notes were redesigned by a working group comprising representatives of various local authorities, vocational education committees and my Department's student support unit. Those local authorities and vocational education committees that were not represented on the working group were also invited to make suggestions. All proposals were considered and implemented where feasible. I believe that the new application form and notes have been very well received by both the authorities involved and individual applicants.
Copies of the application form and notes were supplied to the grant awarding authorities for the first time this year. Prior to this, each authority bore the responsibility of having their own application forms and notes printed. Therefore, the direct provision of the relevant forms facilitated their immediate distribution to applicants.
