Government sets amount of grants for academic year 2017-2018 and the requirements to apply for them

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Council of Ministers established the thresholds on familiar income and assets and the amounts of grants and other study aids for the academic year 2017-2018.

The Minister for Education, Culture and Sport and Government Spokesperson, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, highlighted that these grants "guarantee equality in access to education in non-compulsory education cycles". The essential principle of the government's policy, he stressed, is for "no-one in Spain to give up their studies, at the end of compulsory secondary education, on economic grounds".

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo explained that the government has been continuously increasing the allocation for the grant and study aid system in the General State Budget since the year 2013. This item has also been increased this year to hit "a record figure of 1.42 billion euros". The income and asset thresholds of families in order to receive a grant have also been maintained.

The Government Spokesperson highlighted that the culture of effort continues to be promoted and measures have been adopted to guarantee the financial sustainability of the system. He also underlined that the number of people awarded grants in recent years has increased, such that in the latest round of applications, 674,645 students have been given a grant, as well as 95,599 in the round of applications for students with special educational support needs.

New features

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo pointed out that one of the most important differences with respect to the last academic year is that the former University Entrance System has been replaced by the current Baccalaureate Evaluation for University Entry. Another change allows the modules under the vocational degrees that are automatically validated in some teachings of advanced degrees to be taken into account for the purposes of academic requirements.

On another note, the minister stressed that the management of grants will be improved through the incorporation of a micro-site on the webpage of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport to provide complete information to students.

Catalonia

EFEThe government was presented with the agreements from the meeting of the Government Delegate Committee on Economic Affairs (Spanish acronym: CDGAE) held before the Council of Ministers.

The Government Spokesperson reported that the committee approved a "specific agreement on conditionality for the Autonomous Region of Catalonia", with the aim of "preventing the Regional Government of Catalonia from authorising expenses allocated to financing the illegal referendum on 1 October".

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo recalled that the Constitutional Court declared Additional Provision 40 of the 2017 Budget Act for Catalonia 4/2017, of 28 March, of the Regional Government of Catalonia to be unconstitutional and hence null and void, as well as three budget items in relation to financing the illegal referendum. Despite this, continued the Government Spokesperson, "representatives of Catalan institutions have declared their intention to continue with the procedure, which generates a certain risk for the general interest and a situation of prejudicial economic uncertainty for both citizens and companies".

In light of this situation and in order to guarantee the normal functioning of public services, the CDGAE agreed to make Catalonia's access to the distribution of ordinary and additional resources, whether allocated and pending distribution or pending allocation and charged to the Fund to Finance Autonomous Regions, conditional upon meeting a series of requirements.

By way of general principle, the financial comptroller of the Regional Government of Catalonia will have to send a final weekly certificate to the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Function attaching the individual certificates of the comptrollers of the regional departments, of the economic-financial heads of those institutions in which there are no delegated authorities, of the Director-General of Budgets and of the Director-General of Financial Policy, Insurance and the Treasury which state that there are no items directly of indirectly allocated to the referendum process.

The Government Spokesperson added that if it can be concluded from the information sent that the referendum process has been financed, the competent authorities will demand accountability.

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo argued that the decision adopted by the CDGAE seeks to guarantee the good use of public money. "Not a single euro of funds designed to support the well-being of the people of Catalonia will go towards funding an illegal referendum".

State subsidies tied into Personal Income Tax

EFEThe government established the regulatory bases for State subsidies allocated to general interest programmes charged to the assignment from Personal Income Tax.

The Government Spokesperson specified that in this call for proposals, "more than 300 billion euros will be distributed thanks to the solidarity of those taxpayers that ticked the box for social purposes in their Personal Income Tax return in 2015". For the first time, the funds under the 0.7% programme will be distributed to third sector institutions under a system of joint management between the State and the regional governments.

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo pointed out that in this distribution the activities that are considered to be of social interest will take priority, such as attention for people with comprehensive socio-sanitary care needs, the promotion of voluntary work and the development of activities in the unregulated education sector. Such aspects of those applicant institutions are valued as the development of activities in eight or more autonomous regions, the number of partners and members, the age of the institution, its structure, capacity and specialisation. Furthermore, priority will be given to programmes subsidised previously, precisely to give them continuity.

Subsidies for amortisation of feature films

The Council of Ministers authorised the Cinema and Audiovisual Arts Institute to issue a call for proposals for the year 2017 for subsidies for the amortisation of feature films, for an estimated sum of 32,375,000 euros.
The Minister for Education, Culture and Sport specified that this amount is in addition to the 30 million euros approved in June under the new law on financing the cinema industry.

Guardia Civil

The government updated the Regulation on the acquisition and loss of status as a member of the guardia civil and of other administrative and personnel situations related to this corps.

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo pointed out that this measure will ensure the incorporation of the new aspects introduced by the 2014 Law on the Personnel Regime of the Guardia Civil.

Weekly balance

In his weekly balance of current affairs, the Government Spokesperson mentioned the visits made by the President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, to the troops in Estonia and Latvia, as well as the economic figures confirming the strength of the Spanish economy.

Among these economic figures, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo underlined the fall of the risk premium to below 100 basis points. "It presently stands at 93 points and that means that Spain is a trustworthy country for investors, a stable country where reforms work and a country with a bright future".

The minister also pointed out that until the month of May, more than 10.5 million employment contracts have been signed, the highest figure on record since 1995. As regards exports, they have also hit a new record high in the first five months of the year. "They have increased by almost 11% on the same period of last year. Spain, and this is very important, now stands above Germany, which posted 7.2%; France, which posted 3.6%; Italy, which posted 8% and the United States, which is below 7%.

On another note, the minister welcomed the fact that the Sub-committee on the State Pact against gender-based violence has reached an agreement on political measures and budget forecasts "to fight this scourge".

Current affairs

Pool Moncloa/J.M. CuadradoWhen asked about the repercussions of the arrest this week of the President of the Spanish Football Federation, Ángel María Villar, and other leaders of this body, on this sport, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo underlined that the National Sports Council (Spanish acronym: CSD) wishes to ensure calm and stability in the world of football.

On this issue, he remarked that when the CSD detects signs of the existence of potential irregularities that may give rise to criminal liability, it brings these to the attention of the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Service. The draw to determine the calendar for the Spanish football league in 2017-2018 was held this week within the realms of institutional normality, said the minister. He also reported that the formalities have been set in motion for a temporary and cautionary ban on those people to be tried under open judicial proceedings.

The Government Spokesperson announced that the President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, will appear at the next press briefing following the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the last before the summer break.