The Education Maintenance Allowance

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 14 December 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:41, 14 December 2021

We do, of course, keep the scheme under review. In the last year, prior to the pandemic—so, the last year you think would be a fair comparison—then, over 20,200 students were supported by the EMA scheme, at a cost of nearly £18 million. And, on top of that, the Welsh Government provides £6 million in the financial contingency fund, which further education colleges are able to use, precisely in order to give some additional flexibility over and above the means-tested nature of the EMA itself. I've seen the Bevan Foundation report, of course, about the fact that were we to uplift the EMA to maintain its real-terms value we'd need to go to £45. That would cost another £8.2 million a year, and if we were to raise the thresholds, to take account of the point that Mr Fletcher was making about some young people not being able to access it, that would take the additional investment required to over £10 million. And, I'm afraid, in all of these things, choices have to be made. The programme for government, including all the agreements that we have in the co-operation agreement between his party and mine, have identified the top priorities for investment as being free school meals, childcare and that range of other commitments that we've entered into together. And while we will, of course, keep under review the EMA, the current commitment is to sustain it into this Senedd term, and unless our settlements become significantly more generous than were set out in the comprehensive spending review, that's probably going to have to be where our ambition rests.