Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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Question 495: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to reform the student grant scheme to make provision for essential child care costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3457/07]

Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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Question 497: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to increase the student maintenance grant to a realistic level to take account of increasing supplementary costs, including expenditure on essential equipment and child care costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3459/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 495 and 497 together.

The Deputy will be aware that, in accordance with the commitment in the Agreed Programme for Government, I plan to introduce a single unified scheme of maintenance grants for students in higher education. This will, I believe, provide for a more coherent administration system which will facilitate consistency of application, improved client accessibility and ensure the timely delivery of grants to those who need them most. This is part of my overall plan to introduce service improvements in the administration of the student grant schemes. These will include guaranteed timeframes for the earlier payment of grants, an independent appeals procedure and more efficient arrangements for handling applications and making payments.

In addition as you will be aware, major improvements have been made by this Government in both the income limits and the payment levels for third level grants. It has been the practice in recent years to increase the level of maintenance grants annually, at least in line with inflation. In this academic year, in line with this policy, I announced increases of 3% in the ordinary maintenance grant to give a maximum grant of €3,110 in the 2006/07 academic year.

In addition, the reckonable income limits for ordinary maintenance grants have been increased by 5.3% for the 2006/07 academic year. This increase exceeds the increase in the average industrial wage for the September to September reference period. The top limit for grant eligibility where there are less than four dependent children has been increased from €44,350 to €46,700, ensuring that a significantly higher number of students from households with moderate incomes will not have to pay the Student Service Charge of €800.

Special Rates of Maintenance Grant, sometimes referred to as "top-up" grants, payable to disadvantaged grant holders, were introduced with effect from the 2000/01 academic year. This year's schemes are giving particular priority to addressing inequities in participation of students from the lower socioeconomic groups through both rate and threshold increases in the Special Rates of Maintenance Grant. The annual income threshold for the special rate of grant was increased by 7.18% to €16,748. It is estimated that over 12,500 students in receipt of the special rate element of maintenance grants benefited from an increase in this grant of 22.48%, with the maximum rate for the 2006/2007 non-adjacent grant increased to €5,970. The maximum rate for the 2006/2007 adjacent rate increased to €2,390.

Under my Department's student maintenance grant schemes, I am committed to ongoing improvements in the student support schemes including increasing the rates and income limits, as resources permit.