Discretionary awards slump in England

THE number of "discretionary" financial awards given to support students by English local education authorities has slumped from 202,700 in 1993/94 to 141,900 in 1995/96, according to statistics on student support from the Department for Education and Employment. The LEAs paid Pounds 173 million of discretionary awards in 1993/94, compared with Pounds 102 million in 1995/96. LEAs made 742,500 mandatory awards in 1995/96, compared with 696,300 in 1993/94.