Three Different Numbers

Emma was making breakfast when Fiona Bell's email arrived. Fiona had spoken to the records team at the Glenarraidh Education Trust. They had found a box marked “Student Travel — 2011”. She had not opened all the folders, and she could not promise that the documents Emma wanted were inside.

But Fiona could confirm one detail. The travel programme had two stages. Students first applied for support. A smaller group was then selected. After that, the trust checked whether the students had started their courses before sending money.

Emma read the explanation again. The old newspaper had reported eight students selected. The correction said that figure was wrong. Neither article said how many people had applied or how many had received money.

She rang Sarah.

“We've been treating three numbers as one,” Emma said. “Applicants, selected students and students who got a payment aren't necessarily the same people.”

“So the corrected figure could refer to only one of those groups?”

“Yes. We need the original records.”

Fiona had attached a blank application form from the programme. It asked for a student's course, the cost of travel and the reason they needed help. There was also a space for an official decision. The form had no student's name on it. It did not show that anyone had actually received an award.

Emma looked at the form and remembered Claire's warning about promises made to students. A clear form did not mean the selection process had been fair. But an unclear newspaper article did not prove it had been unfair either.

Later that day Emma phoned the library. She asked whether the newspaper still kept letters from readers that had not been published. The librarian said the library did not hold the newspaper's private correspondence. Emma thanked her and made a note to contact the newspaper archive instead.

Sarah sent another message. She had found a public statement from the trust, dated October 2011, saying the travel scheme was “continuing”. It did not give any student numbers.

“Does that help?” Sarah asked.

“It tells us what the trust said in October. Nothing more.”

Emma added the statement to her notes. Then a second email from Fiona appeared.

The records team had located a list of application reference numbers. Fiona said some pages were missing, and she was checking what could legally be shared. She had not supplied the list itself.

Emma did not know what the numbers would reveal. But she now knew exactly what to ask next: how many applications had been received, how many students had been chosen, and how many payments had been made.

She wrote those three questions on separate lines.