HC Deb 28 May 2004 vol 422 c122W
Mr. Willis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the start-up costs for enabling students to apply for student loans online are; and what the running costs will be in each year up to 2007–08. [176418]

Alan Johnson

The new higher education student finance IT system will not only provide an online application facility for students. The same system is also being used by local education authorities to assess and process paper applications from students and by the customer support office, operated by the Student Loans Company, to answer student queries. It is therefore not possible for us to provide separate figures for the development and running costs of the online facility as these costs are integral to the costs of the system as a whole.

Mr. Willis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the number of students who will apply for student loans online in each year up to 2007–08. [176419]

Alan Johnson

We are currently developing a strategy for the promotion of this online service in future years and would therefore expect the proportion of students making their applications online to increase over time. We will of course continue to provide a service for students who wish to make their applications using a paper form.