Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 166: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide further details on his announcement that a capital assets test will be introduced in 2013 allowing certain capital assets as well as income to be assessed as part of all higher education grant scheme applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39997/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that the current means testing arrangements for student grants take no account of the capital value of savings or assets in determining eligibility for financial assistance. This approach is at variance with other major financial support schemes operated by the Department of Social Protection and other public bodies such as the HSE.

A considerable body of reports produced by the Department over a number of years have strongly recommended the introduction of a capital test for student grants to create a more equitable basis for means testing, based on a more complete analysis of a family's capacity to support their children in pursuing further or higher education.

The Deputy will appreciate that the objective of the student grant scheme is to target available funding at socio-economically disadvantaged groups to support greater participation of students from these backgrounds in further and higher education.

In the circumstances and in the context of the current financial climate, the importance of accurately targeting increasingly scarce resources to those most in need has become a high priority. In this regard, a dedicated Capital Asset Test implementation group for student grants has been established. The group has been charged with bringing forward detailed implementation proposals on new means testing arrangements for student grants, to include the value of assets, for new applicants from the 2013/14 academic year. Any proposals will require further Government agreement and necessitate legislative amendment.