asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is aware of the anomalies and hardships caused by the means testing of the parental contribution towards students' grants; if he is aware that in many cases students are unable to continue their education because parents refuse to make a contribution; if he will take steps to deal with this problem; and if he will make a statement.

I know that some students have difficulty in managing because their parents do not pay the assessed contribution in full, but to abolish the parental contribution would cost over £60 million a year. My Department has asked local education authorities to notify parents direct of the amount of their assessed contribution and to point out that the student may suffer hardship if the contribution is not paid in full.