Housing Renewal Grants (Reduction of Grant) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Interpretation

42.  In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires –

“academic year” means the period of twelve months beginning on 1st January, 1st April, 1st July or 1st September according to whether the course in question begins in the winter, the spring, the summer or the autumn respectively but if students are required to begin attending the course during August or September and to continue attending through the autumn, the academic year of the course shall be considered to begin in the autumn rather than the summer;

“access funds” means –

(a)

grants made under Article 30 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1993(1), or grants, loans or other payments made under Article 5 of the Further Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997(2) in each case being grants, or grants, loans or other payments as the case may be, made for the purpose of assisting students in financial difficulties;

(b)

grants made under section 7 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992(3) and described as “learner support funds” or grants made under section 68 of that Act for the purpose of providing funds on a discretionary basis to be paid to students;

(c)

grants made under sections 73(a) and (c) and 74(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980(4);

(d)

discretionary payments, known as “learner support funds”, which are made available to students in further education by institutions out of funds provided by the Learning and Skills Council for England under sections 5, 6 and 9 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000(5);

“contribution” means any contribution (including one which is not paid) in respect of the income of a student or of any other person which the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers, or an education authority takes into account in ascertaining the amount of the student’s grant or student loan; or any sums, which in determining the amount of a student’s allowance or bursary in Scotland under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992(6), the Scottish Ministers or the education authority takes into account being sums which the Scottish Ministers or the education authority consider that the holder of the allowance or bursary, the holder’s parents and the holder’s spouse can reasonably be expected to contribute towards the holder’s expenses;

“course of study” means any course of study whether or not it is a sandwich course and whether or not a grant is made for undertaking or attending it;

“education authority” means a government department, an education and library board established under Article 3 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986(7), a local education authority as defined in section 114(1)of the Education Act 1944(8) (interpretation), a local education authority as defined in section 123 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973(9), any body which is a research council for the purposes of the Science and Technology Act 1965(10) or any analogous government department, authority, board or body of the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, or any other country outside Great Britain;

“full-time course of study” means a course normally involving not less than 15 hours attendance a week in term time for the organised day-time study of a single subject or related subjects;

“full-time student” means a person undertaking a full-time course of study and includes a student on a sandwich course;

“grant” (except in the definition of “access funds”) means any kind of educational grant or award and includes any scholarship, studentship, exhibition, allowance or bursary but does not include a payment from access funds;

“grant income” means –

(a)

any income by way of a grant;

(b)

any contribution whether or not it is paid;

“last day of the course” means the date on which the last day of the final academic term falls in respect of the course in which the student is enrolled;

“qualifying course” means a qualifying course as defined in regulation 17A(7) of the Jobseekers Allowance Regulations(11);

“sandwich course” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003(12), regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations 2002(13) or regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2000(14) as the case may be;

“student” means a person, other than a person in receipt of a training allowance, who is attending or undertaking –

(a)

a course of study at an educational establishment; or

(b)

a qualifying course;

“student loan” means a loan towards a student’s maintenance pursuant to any regulations made under Article 3 of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998(15), section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998(16) or section 73 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980(17) and shall include, in Scotland, a young student’s bursary paid under regulation 4(1)(c) of the Students' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1999(18).

(1)

S.I. 1993/2810 (N.I. 12); Article 30 was amended by Schedule 4 to S.I. 1997/1772 (N.I. 15)

(2)

S.I. 1997/1772 (N.I. 15)

(3)

1992 c. 13

(4)

1980 c. 44; the functions of the Secretary of State were transferred to Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46)

(5)

2000 c. 21; section 5 was amended by section 178 of the Education Act 2002 (c. 32) and section 6 was amended by section 34 of, and Schedule 9 to, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (c. 10)

(6)

1992 c. 37; to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations

(7)

S.I. 1986/594 (N.I. 3); Article 3 was amended by Article 166 of, and Schedule 9 to, the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/2406 (N.I. 20))

(8)

1944 c. 31, as amended by S.I. 1974/595 Article 3(22) Schedule 1 Part I and by S.I. 1977/293, Article 4(1)

(9)

1973 c. 65

(10)

1965 c. 4

(11)

Regulation 17A was inserted by regulation 4 of S.R. 1998 No. 198

(12)

S.R. 2003 No. 298

(13)

S.I. 2002/3200

(14)

S.S.I. 2000/200, as amended by regulation 3(a) of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2001 (S.S.I. 2001/311)

(15)

S.I. 1998/1760 (N.I. 14); see the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (S.R. 2003 No. 298) for loans to students commencing courses after 1st September 1998

(16)

1998 c. 30; see the Education (Student Support) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/496) and the Education (Student Loans) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/211)

(17)

1980 c. 44; section 73(f) was amended by the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 (c. 30), section 29(1); see the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999.1001 (S.71)) and the Education (Student Loans) Regulations 1998

(18)

S.I. 1999/1131 (S.91)