To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will detail the number of (a) claimants and (b) dependants claiming each means-tested benefit for which he is responsible.

The Department is responsible for the assisted places scheme, the music and ballet scheme and for mandatory awards. The latest available number of pupils and students claiming these benefits are giving in the following table:

Benefit	Claimants	Year
Music and Ballet	496	1987–88
Assisted Places Scheme	24,696	1987–88
Mandatory Award Holders1	403,110	1986–87
1 Of these about 8,000 claimed additional allowances for dependents.

Local education authorities operate their own schemes of assistance to pupils, for example, school clothing, and are required to offer free school meals to certain pupils. The numbers receiving free school meals in October 1987 were 1,101,132Details of the take-up of other schemes run by local education authorities are not available.