Dear Ministry of Social Development,

I write to request information on the distribution of Student Allowance recipients by programme type. I note that StudyLink, part of the MSD, publishes some detailed statistics on its website; however the information that I am interested in is not available there.

In order to identify with some particularity the information that I am interested in, I have phrased my request as a series of questions. However I appreciate that data may not be available in the specific form requested - please contact me if I can clarify my request in such a way that it can be more readily met using existing data held by the Ministry or elsewhere.

Questions:

(1) How many people received Student Allowance payments (including the Accommodation Benefit) in each of the past three years (2011, 2010, 2009)?

(1A) What was the total dollar value of those payments, over the three years?

(2) What percentage of the people identified in (1) were studying towards a post-graduate qualification (including pos-graduate diplomas, masters degrees and doctorates; but excluding undergraduate honours programmes), in each of the three years?

(2B) What was the total dollar value of the payments referred to in (2)?

(3) What percentage of the people identified in (1) were studying towards an undergraduate qualification at either the degree, graduate diploma, or undergraduate honours level, in each of the three years?

(3B) What was the total dollar value of the payments referred to in (3)?

(4) What percentage of the people identified in (1) were studying towards qualifications other than those referred to in (2) or (3), in each of the three years?

(4B) What was the total dollar value of the payments referred to in (4)?

I thank you for your assistance with this request. I realise that some or all of the information requested may not be held by the MSD. If that is the case, any assistance that you could offer in identifying which other bodies may hold the requested information would be very much appreciated.

Yours faithfully,

Brendon Steen

Dear OIA_Requests (MSD),

Thank you for your help with this. I appreciate the extra information about the changes as well as the answer to my specific question.

Yours sincerely,

Brendon Steen