Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the value of publicly funded bursaries or scholarships available to students wishing to study (a) biology, (b) chemistry, (c) physics, (d) electrical engineering, (e) mechanical engineering, (f) computing and (g) mathematics at an undergraduate level was for the last three years for which figures are available. [188504]

Mr Willetts, Minister of State for Universities and Science: There are no publicly funded bursaries or scholarships available to students based on the subject to be studied. Universities and colleges typically provide such bursaries or scholarships to students using their own resources. The Government does not collect data on the type of bursaries available or the eligibility conditions.

In 2012 the Government introduced the National Scholarship Programme (NSP) to promote access to higher education among disadvantaged students. Only students whose family income is no greater than £25,000 per annum are eligible for an award. However, institutions are able to set their own local criteria to further target awards in a way that best meets the needs of their students. There is no requirement for institutions to target their awards by subject. Data collected by the Higher Education Funding Council for England show that 18 institutions have used subject as an eligibility criteria, although no information is available to show which subjects are involved or the value of those awards.

The Government contributed £50 million to the NSP in 2012/13 and £100 million in 2013/14. On 28 November 2013 we announced that we were reducing Government's planned contribution in 2014/15 from £150 million to £50 million. From 2015/16 the NSP will cease as an undergraduate scheme with £50 million being re-focused to provide support to postgraduate students from less advantaged backgrounds.

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