Student Loan/Debt (Hansard, 4 March 2004)

§ Dr. Cable
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the outstanding stock of student debt owed to public funds was(a) on 1 March 1997 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available; and how much of each sum was (i) debt in arrears and (ii) debt written off. [158653]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
The total amount outstanding for publicly-owned debt, the arrears value, and the amount which has been written oil or cancelled during the financial year are shown in the table. The data reflect the position at the end of each financial year. Data at 1 March are not available. The answer refers to both mortgage-style and income-contingent loans.
1108W

Publicly-owned student loan debt: United Kingdom

£ million

1996–97 2001–02¹ 2002–03¹

Total amount outstanding at the end
of the financial year^2,3
2,691.0 8,394.0 10,827.5

Of which:

Arrears value⁴ 11.2 131.7 ⁵—

Amount written off/cancelled during
the financial year
0.9 1.4 2.6 ¹Provisional.

²The amount outstanding is after repayments of income contingent loans according to the latest known information. The SLC are notified of repayments by the Inland Revenue usually within one year of the end of the tax year they relate to, e.g. there will be some borrowers who have repaid their accounts in full in financial year 2002–03 but this will not be reported until the reconciliation has been made with SLC records.

³Includes loans not yet due for repayment.

⁴The arrears value is the overdue amount and does not include administration charges

⁵Not yet available.

Source:

Student Loans Company.

§ Dr. Cable
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information on individual student debt is made available to credit rating agencies. [158654]

§ Alan Johnson
We do not make information on student loans available to credit reference agencies (CRAs) for credit scoring. CRAs do, however, have access to information in the public domain, including county court judgments (CCJs), which may be obtained by the Student Loans Company against default on student loans.

§ Dr. Cable
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what order of precedence state student debt has in relation to other creditors in personal bankruptcy proceedings. [158655]

§ Alan Johnson
Student debt in relation to other creditors in bankruptcy proceedings is treated like all other non-preferential debts and has no precedence over any of these debts.
There is a clause amendment relating to preferential creditors which will be debated in the Higher Education Bill Standing Committee on Tuesday 9 March (afternoon session).

§ Mr. Pickthall
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to extend the incentive for teachers on repayment of student loans beyond June 2005. [157850]

§ Mr. Charles Clarke
An evaluation of the current pilot of the Repayment of Teachers' Loans scheme is under way. This will inform decisions on the future of the scheme.

Publicly-owned student loan debt: United Kingdom
£ million
	1996–97	2001–02¹	2002–03¹
Total amount outstanding at the end of the financial year^2,3	2,691.0	8,394.0	10,827.5
Of which:
Arrears value⁴	11.2	131.7	⁵—
Amount written off/cancelled during the financial year	0.9	1.4	2.6	¹Provisional.
²The amount outstanding is after repayments of income contingent loans according to the latest known information. The SLC are notified of repayments by the Inland Revenue usually within one year of the end of the tax year they relate to, e.g. there will be some borrowers who have repaid their accounts in full in financial year 2002–03 but this will not be reported until the reconciliation has been made with SLC records.
³Includes loans not yet due for repayment.
⁴The arrears value is the overdue amount and does not include administration charges
⁵Not yet available.
Source:
Student Loans Company.