§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what additional resources will become available to the Government as a result of introducing a system of formal resource accounting and budgeting in 2001 and 2002, under which student loans will be treated as a balance sheet asset; and what additional resources will be available to higher education. [40123]
§ Dr. HowellsThe treatment of student loans under resource accounting is still under discussion. The resources which will be available to higher education are currently being considered as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he expects to complete the sale of the remaining student loan debt portfolio; and which institutions are bidding for the remaining portfolio. [40122]
§ Dr. HowellsWe made a commitment in our election manifesto to staying within the published spending plans of the previous Government for the first two years of our term. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer made it clear in his statement, on 10 July 1997,Official Report, columns 607–08, that the student loan debt sales planned for 1997–98 and 1998–99 had a role to play in enabling us to keep that pledge. The debt sales also reflect our commitment to the development of a wide range of public-private partnerships which involve the transfer of risk to the private sector.
Current plans are for a second sale, involving part of the remaining student loan debt, to get under way shortly and to be completed within the 1998–99 financial year. We will again hold a competition and expect a wide range of prominent financial institutions to participate.