MORE than £1mn was spent on administration for a scheme which left thousands of Welsh students waiting months for their grant cheques, Welsh Conservatives can reveal today.

Ministers have confirmed that £1.3mn was paid to the Student Loans Company to coordinate the Education Maintenance Allowance system in the 2008/9 academic year.

The scheme is designed to provide an incentive for students from lower‐income families to continue and remain in full‐time education.

Shadow Education Minister Paul Davies AM today called for the Assembly Government to explain whether the amount paid to administer the scheme was delivering value for money.

In January it emerged that more than 4,500 sixth form students in Wales were still waiting for their EMAs four months after the start of the academic year.

The latest Assembly Government figures, published earlier this month, show that in the 2008/9 academic year to date 35,780 applications were received of which 32,610 have been approved and 710 rejected. This leaves a further 2,460 awaiting processing.

Some 10,010 applications for EMAs have so far been received for the 2009/10 academic year.

Shadow Education Minister Paul Davies AM said:

"The Assembly Government has some serious questions to answer about the administration of the Education Maintenance Allowance scheme.

"The education of thousands of students was put at risk earlier this year because they did not receive the support they were promised in time.

"Ministers need to tell us whether they think the £1.3mn paid last year to administer the scheme delivered value for money.

"We need to know what safeguards they have put in place to prevent a repeat of this year's debacle.

"The backlog earlier this year caused enormous distress and difficulty for students who relied on the money for their education.

"We need to have confidence that the Education Minister is on top of this situation.

"To date she has not reassured anyone that this unsatisfactory event will not happen again."