To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when Education Maintenance Awards will be introduced in (a) Blackpool and (b) Lancashire. [101492]

The national Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme will be available from September 2004 across the whole of England.In areas such as Blackpool which are not part of the pilot scheme, the first tranche of eligible students will be those who reach the compulsory school leaving age in the 2003–04 academic year.East Lancashire is currently piloting a variant of EMA whereby young people are given help with transport costs. This will continue until the national scheme is introduced.