§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what studies his Department has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on (i) the effect of debt among dental students and (ii) the impact of this on their willingness to work in the NHS; [62315]
(2) what assessment he has made of the British Dental Association's survey of dental students' debt. [62313]
§ Mr. MudieThe Department has not commissioned any research on the effect of debt on dental students but, we have recently received a summary of the survey by the British Dental Association which we shall consider carefully.
§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will provide extra help for dental students who are heavily in debt. [62314]
§ Mr. MudieDental and other students who entered higher education before 1998–99 and who take out five or more loans will repay these loans over a period of seven years compared with five years for other borrowers. They will not have to start repaying their student loans until their income reaches the earnings related threshold which for 1998–99 is set at £17,784 per annum.
From 1998–99 dental students in the first four years of their course will have access to the same loan, grant and fees support as all other new entrants, but they will receive help in years five and beyond through NHS bursaries and the Department of Health will meet their tuition fees. After graduation, they will benefit from the fairer repayment system which we are introducing, which links repayments directly to graduates income. No repayments are made until their income reaches a threshold, initially set at £10,000, and thereafter they are calculated as a percentage of income above that level. 236W This will ensure that dental students, and others with larger loans to repay will have affordable repayments linked directly to their earnings.