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The following table presents the number of school pupils and further education college students who received education maintenance allowance (EMA) support in the £10 and £20 categories in academic years 2005-06 to 2007-08.

Level of Payment	Academic Year
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
	Number of Students
£10	3,760	3,560	3,430
£20	3,600	3,925	3,965
Total	7,360	7,485	7,395

Notes:

1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five.

2. Numbers may not sum to totals as a result of this rounding.

3. Direct comparisons between the figures 2007-08 and those for previous academic years cannot be made due to an improvement to the method of collating college data. This removed 175 duplicate cases from the total number of students supported in the £10 and £20 categories in 2007-08.

This information is not captured centrally.

The Scottish Government have however obtained the following from Skills Development Scotland on the programme costs and the number of individuals involved in the Get Ready for Work (GRfW) programme over the last three years.

Young people on full time provision receive £55 per week and those on part time provision receive £45 per week, depending on hours of participation.

Table 1 Get Ready for Work, Starts, Allowances and Spend by Financial Year

Year	No. of Starts	Allowance Costs GRfW   £ Million	Allowance Costs L/Skills (F-T) £ Million	Allowance Costs L/Skills (P-T) £ Million	Total Allowance Costs   £ Million	Total Spend Including Programme costs £ Million
2007-08	9,274	8.5	503,972	347,436	9.4	23.7
2006-07	8,847	7.9	435,285	300,612	8.7	21.5
2005-06	8,422	8.3	427,666	243,881	9.0	22.1

 

Assuming that the amounts paid out in bonus payments to those in the £10 and £20 categories in future years would be the same as in 2007-08, we estimate that the resources released by removing the bonus payments for students supported in these categories would be £0.7 million and £0.8 million respectively.

The £55 per week training allowance, available to Get Ready for Work participants and non-employed Skillseekers, does not apply to the modern apprenticeship programme. The conclusions of the consultation will not therefore impact on the modern apprenticeship programme.

This information is not held centrally.

The £13 million of accelerated capital spend for further and higher education will be used to benefit projects across Scotland in 2009-10, helping to accelerate investment which would not otherwise have taken place until 2010-11. Further details of the specific projects which will benefit will be made available once the Scottish Funding Council has determined the basis on which the funding will be distributed in 2009-10, in collaboration with the institutions which it funds.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency annually publishes higher education performance indicators for all higher education institutions in the UK, including participation rates of students from low participation neighbourhoods and from low socio-economic classification groups. The most recently published performance indicators relate to the academic year 2006-07.

HESA''s participation of under-represented groups performance indicators can be found at:

http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php/content/view/1174/141/.

There is no clearly defined measure of students from non-traditional backgrounds, though these are usually assumed to mean students from low socio-economic groups.

The Annual Population Survey (APS) collects information on household composition and qualifications being studied by people in the household. The estimated number of full-time students studying for qualifications at the higher education level who have dependent children was 14,000 for the year July 2007 to June 2008.

The following table presents the number of school pupils and further education college students who were supported in the £10 and £20 categories of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme and who received bonus payments in academic years 2005-06 to 2007-08.

Level of Payment	Academic Year
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
	Number of Students
£10	3,065	2,945	2,920
£20	2,975	3,200	3,385
Total (£10 and £20)	6,040	6,145	6,310

Notes:

1. Student numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest five.

2. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding.

3. Direct comparisons between the figures 2007-08 and those for previous academic years cannot be made due to an improvement to the method of collating college data. This removed 75 duplicate cases from the total number of bonus recipients in the £10 and £20 categories in 2007-08.

The Annual Population Survey is the official source for national estimates of the numbers of people aged 16 to 19 who were not in education, employment or training. The estimates for each the last five years for which data are available are given in table 1. The estimate for the year 2008 will be published in June or July 2009 when results from the Annual Population Survey are published. The 2007 Annual Population Survey results can be found at this page on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/Publications.

Table 1 People Aged 16 to 19 Not in Education, Employment or Training, Scotland

Year	Level
2003	35,000
2004	35,000
2005	37,000
2006	32,000
2007	32,000

Source: Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey 2003 (March 2003 to February 2004). Annual Population Survey 2004 onwards.

Note: Estimates have been rounded to the nearest thousand.