 |
| Home |
| Political News |
| Meet Your Local MP |
| Comment |
| Have Your Say |
| Campaigns |
| Theresa May |
| John Redwood |
| Martin Salter |
| Rob Wilson |
| Richard Benyon |
| Useful Links |
- AAT Courses
- Absolute Health and Safety Solutions Limited
- Business lead generation
- Customer testimonials
- Diamond drilling
- First page seo
- Information Drivers
- Kids in Berkshire
- LIVE answering service
- Mary Flavelle
- NRG Networks
- On this day in history
- Outbound telemarketing services
- Personal business coach
- Positive energy
- Promotional micro sites
- Sales force outsourcing
- Sales training consultancy
- Technical Concrete Cutting Limited
- Windsor Vehicle Leasing
|
South-East grants
|
Martin Salter, MP for Reading West, today welcomed the announcement in the House of Commons by the new Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which promised new funding arrangements for student grants worth around £3000 a year.
From September next year students from families with incomes of up to £25,000 will be entitled to full grants - at present only students from households with incomes of up to £17,500 are entitled to full grants.. Speaking in the House of Commons, Martin Salter congratulated the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon John Denham MP saying: Martin Salter (Reading, West) (Lab): I genuinely welcome his announcement, in particular the increased threshold for the maximum salary cut-off point for eligibility for maintenance grants. The previous figure of some £33,000 caused problems in constituencies such as Reading, West and indeed in Southampton, where wages may be higher, but housing costs are higher, too. Mr. Denham: It is important to send a message to those on higher incomes to the effect that we support those hard-working families who are doing the right thing in encouraging their children to go into higher education. The biggest gainers are in the low to middle-income groups, but there are other people who need to know that the Government are on their side and their children’s side when they go into higher education. That is the powerful message that comes out of the package I have announced. The reforms mean that students whose families have household incomes of up to £60,000 a year will be eligible for a grant in future, and for a student from a household on earnings of £40,000 a year it will mean an extra £1,000 per year in grant. Martin Salter has been campaigning since 2003 for students in the South East to be compensated for living in high cost areas, and earlier this year called for a South-East weighting comparable to London to be introduced to reflect the higher living costs for students in Reading. The London Weighting gives students an average living allowance of £62 a week after accommodation costs, compared to just £29 for students in Reading and the South East. This is less than the students would receive if they were claiming Job Seekers Allowance. Mr Salter was therefore delighted today when Mr Denham announced further reforms to ease the debt burden on all students. Amongst the changes he proposed were: • The proportion of students receiving maintenance grants will rise from just over half who entered higher education in 2006 to two thirds of students from 2008 - a major increase in financial support to students • From the academic year 2008/09 all 16 year olds who qualify for the Education Maintenance Allowance will be given a clear guarantee of the minimum level of maintenance grant and loan they will receive if they go to university or college • All graduates when they face significant new outgoings in their lives – such as buying a new home or starting a family – will have the option of taking a break from their loan repayments of up to five years Martin Salter speaking after the statement to the House said: “I am absolutely delighted that we are finally seeing some real movement by the government towards easing the debt burden many students will face, particularly in Reading and the South East. "These reforms will not only help students who had previously been put off attending University because of the fear of unsustainable debt to reconsider, but will also bring in some important mentoring programmes to encourage students from less well off backgrounds to move on to higher education.” Ruth Walker-Grice, Reading University Labour Club Vice President, said: “I welcome this positive announcement but it’s about time that action was taken to stem the mounting tide of student debt which was becoming a real disincentive to school leavers going on to higher education. "Whilst this announcement will not help current students it will certainly help remove one of the barriers to university and college entry next year and will be particularly important in high cost areas like Reading and the south east.” |
|
Wordtracker |
|
|
