Funding Of Law Students

EDM number 1911 in 1992-93, proposed by Elfyn Llwyd on 29/04/1993.

That this House notes the findings of a survey by the College of Law into students' funding and finance on the Law Society's final course 1992-93 at the College of Law showing that 48 per cent. of the respondents have less than ú25 per week to spend on food, books and incidentals; further notes that the percentage of students receiving final course funding from local authorities has declined from 64 per cent. of students in 1989-90 to 24 per cent. of students in 1992-93; believes that cutbacks in local authority discretionary grants to final course law students enforces students to either self-finance their courses or seek sponsorship from firms in the middle of a severe recession; further believes that local authority discretionary grants were and are vital to ensure that prospective law students from less well-off family backgrounds can embark on final law courses; recognises that the demise of local authority discretionary grants to final course law students may lead to a narrowing of the social class base for prospective members of the legal profession currently at law colleges; and calls on the Government to make increased funding available to local authorities to ensure that such discretionary grants are paid to final course law students.

This motion has been signed by a total of 76 MPs.