Member News
By Baroness Quin - 10th November 2011
Baroness Quin calls on the government to examine the effect the loss of Educational Maintenance Allowance is having on 16-19 year olds continuining in education.
Today (Thursday 10th November) I am raising, at House of Lords Question Time, the worrying situation facing 16-19 year-olds throughout Britain but especially in England, where the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which previously supported students staying on at school, has now been scrapped.
Evidence from the Association of Colleges in its recent survey indicates that there has already been a drop of some 15 per cent in staying-on rates and that this has affected students across the ability range. My question specifically asks the government what trends ministers have been able to detect and what research they are undertaking. If ministers confirm that such a drop in numbers staying on at school has taken place, I shall press for specific additional measures to be taken to redress the situation.
EMA has been scrapped in England, although the devolved administrations have sensibly decided to retain it. Given that England is the most populous country in the UK, many thousands of young people have lost out. It is true one or two local authorities, in less prosperous areas, are so concerned about the situation that they have decided to fund similar schemes from their reserves. However, while this is welcome in those areas, it risks creating another ‘postcode lottery', and one from which most young people will be unable to benefit.
The decision to scrap EMA in England has also to be seen in a wider and disturbing context.
Firstly, government education cuts seem to be particularly hitting the 16-19 year-old group. Another study, this time from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, points out that education spending as a whole is being cut by more than 14 per cent – the largest cut since the 1950s. For the 16-19 year-old sector, the cut is estimated as being even greater – in the order of 20 per cent.
Secondly, the 16-19 year age group is also affected by the recent rise in university tuition fees, which constitutes an additional barrier deterring young people from staying on at school and applying for university degree courses.
Thirdly, but also very seriously, youth unemployment is now at record levels and pupils leaving school are experiencing huge difficulty in finding employment.
What happens to 16-19 year-olds will self-evidently shape our future as a country. This younger generation were not responsible for the financial crisis. They should not be made scapegoats for it. Their opportunities for education and for employment need to be increased, not reduced. The government must in my view take urgent measures to identify and redress the financial hardship experienced by significant numbers of this vital sector of the population of our country.
Joyce Quinis the former Labour member of Parliament for Gateshead East (1987-97) and for Gateshead East and Washington West (1997-2005). She was raised to the peerage in 2006.
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