§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list, for each scheme operated by his Department under which loans are available, the objectives of the scheme, the number of unrecovered loans, the total value of unrecovered loans, the average number of unrecovered loans for each year since 1990, the average value of unrecovered loans for each year since 1990 and the annual cost of recovering loans.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe career development loan —CDL—scheme, run in partnership with three high street banks—Barclays, the Co-operative and the Clydesdale—is the only loan scheme operated by the Employment Department. The objective of the scheme is to provide assistance to people who wish to undertake vocational education or training of their own choice, but who are unable, on their own, to raise sufficient funds to pay for it. The programme helps to encourage individuals to take greater responsibility for their own education and training. Details of the number and value of unrecovered CDLs, where a default notice has been issued, are given in the table for each year since the start of the scheme. The cost associated with recovering defaulted loans are borne primarily by the lending banks. The Department incurs minimal cost—on average, less than £400 per year total costs over the last four years.
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Unrecovered CDLs (Loans where a default notice has been served) Year Number Total Value (£) Average Value (£) 1986–87 3 2,469 823 1987–88 14 15,402 1,100 1988–89 40 40,955 1,024 1989–90 115 187,515 1,631 1990–91 419 798,249 1,905 1991–92 1,113 2,539,291 2,281 1992–93 1,501 3,550,631 2,366 1993–94 1,233 3,242,991 2,630 Total 4,438 10,377,503