§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his written ministerial statement of 15 May 2003,Official Report, column 13WS, on bankruptcy and student loans, how many and what amount of student loans have so far been written off on account of bankruptcy; and if he will make a statement on action being taken to frustrate write-offs in advance of correcting legislation. [115178]
§ Alan JohnsonNo loans have been written off since the statement to Parliament on bankruptcy and student loans, made on 15 May 2003. The Student Loans Company (SLC) will now take this forward.
The SLC have identified 633 bankrupt borrowers, with a total of £2.4 million in outstanding loan balances to be written off. Against a customer base of 2.4 million and a total loan book of £10 billion, the proportion of affected borrowers is very small.
It is not possible for us to prevent write-off of student loans on bankruptcy before the changes in primary legislation, which we have announced in the Higher Education White Paper.