I have previously indicated my intention to first seek to deal with the more significant anomalies or disincentives in the grants schemes before dealing with the more general issue of grant levels and income limits. Accordingly, my approach has been to follow the practice of recent years and increase the value of maintenance grants in line with inflation as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index for the period mid-February to mid-February each year.
My initial priority was to honour the commitment given in the programme for Government, An Action Programme for the Millennium, to introduce equitable support for students attending PLC courses. I have honoured that commitment and introduced a maintenance grants scheme for students attending post leaving certificate courses with effect from the 1998-99 academic year.