asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish the following figures for education maintenance allowances for 1977–78, showing for each local education authority the number of pupils for whom the grants were paid, the proportion this represents of all pupils over statutory school-leaving age, the average grant paid, and the total amount spent for this purpose by the local education authorities.
Total expenditure by local education authorities in England and Wales on education maintenance allowances for pupils remaining at school beyond compulsory school age was £2 million in the financial year 1977–78. The powers ' of local education authorities to grant education maintenance allowances are discretionary and my Department does not collect regularly from individual authorities information about the number of pupils receiving grant nor the average grant paid.