This week’s FErret award for the most spurious use of survey results to promote government policy goes to the team from the Learning and Skills Council.
Apparently, 86 per cent of parents fail to discuss their finances with their offspring, which means teenagers are losing out on the chance to get education maintenance allowances, which are available to students from low-income households.
It seems that, while parents find it relatively easy to discuss sex, drugs, body odour, depression and all those other things which crop up with teenagers, they have a real problem mentioning the folding stuff.
“Money is the ultimate taboo,” says the LSC. The ultimate taboo? They need to get out more.
