Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which come into force on 1st September 1995, supersede the Education (Mandatory Awards) (No. 2) Regulations 1993.

Provisions in these Regulations which differ from the corresponding provisions of the 1993 Regulations as amended (except as a result of minor drafting or consequential changes) are indicated by the use of heavy type. Omissions are indicated by the use of dots. The changes of substance made by these Regulations other than the changes in the rates of grant and allowances are described below.

School centred courses for the initial training of teachers which qualify for funding under Part I of the Education Act 1994 are designated for Mandatory Awards purposes (regulation 10(1)(d)(i)) and the definiton of “institution” has been amended to include institutions, including schools, which provide such courses (regulation 2). The regulation which sets out the circumstances in which a second award may be bestowed on a student has been amended to ensure that a second award may be bestowed on a student attending such a course (regulation 12(5)).

Provision has been made for the designation by the Secretary of State of first degree courses provided wholly or partly by institutions not maintained or assisted by recurrent grants out of public funds (regulation 10(1)(a)(iv)). Regulation 10(2) has been amended to make it clear that a course may be designated under regulation 10(1) not only when it is provided by one institution but also when it is provided by more than one institution.

The provision concerning assisted students has been amended to ensure that a student who the local education authority are satisfied is obliged to incur supplementary expenditure in respect of his attendance on a course by reason of a disability may take the amount of such expenditure which is included in his requirements for maintenance for the year into account in determining whether certain types of payment received by him are of sufficient size to disentitle him to payments pursuant to an award in that year (regulation 23(1)(b)(ii)).

The list of subjects studied on a course for the degree of Bachelor of Education which attract a second full mandatory award for the course, as opposed to an award under which some payments are discretionary, has been amended by deleting craft, design and business studies and inserting modern foreign languages and Welsh (regulation 25(3)). A transitional provision has preserved the entitlement to a full award of students studying the deleted subjects on whom awards have been bestowed under previous Regulations (regulation 6(6)).