(2) what estimate he has made of the losses to his Department from fraudulent claims for education maintenance allowance system in each year since it was launched; and if he will make a statement.
Responsibility for operating the education maintenance allowance, and maintaining and implementing a strategy for managing the risk of fraud, was transferred to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on 1 April 2005. The LSC have provided a response to these questions as follows:
Since the national roll out of EMA in England in September 2004, there have been no identified cases of fraud by staff at the Assessment and Payment Body (APB), Learning Providers, or the Learning and Skills Council.
The total losses to date arising from fraudulent claims that have been identified since national roll out amount to £58,635. This equates to less than 0.0001 per cent. of the total EMA budget since roll out.
This answer only refers to the EMA scheme in England the EMA schemes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the devolved administrations.