Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2017 to Question 65926, on overseas students: loans, for what reasons 4.8 per cent of borrowers residing in the UK are not required to repay their student loans.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Student loan borrowers who are liable to repay their loan and known to be in the UK can be categorised as ‘status that does not require repayment at this point’ for a number of reasons. Most typically these are borrowers who were known by Student Loans Company to have been resident in the UK and had confirmed they were not working, or HMRC or DWP advised that they had been receiving benefits.
Further information on how the repayment statuses are categorised can be found in the ‘Notes for Users’ section of the Statistical First Release.
http://www.slc.co.uk/media/7594/slcsfr012016.pdf
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2017 to Question 65926, on overseas students: loans, if she will take steps to reduce the number of borrowers who have not repaid their loans.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department is taking action to reduce the number of borrowers due to repay who are not repaying their loans.
If borrowers based overseas fail to remain in contact with the SLC, the SLC will set up a fixed repayment schedule and will place those borrowers in arrears. Borrowers with post-2012 loans who have not remained in contact with the SLC are charged the maximum interest rate of RPI+3% until they get back in touch. Further action, including legal action, can then be taken to secure recovery. The SLC established a dedicated Repayments Evasion Unit in 2016 to detect borrowers overseas who fail to comply with their statutory obligations to repay their loans.
The Department published a Joint Repayment Strategy in February 2016, which sets out how action will be taken to trace borrowers and act to recover loans where avoidance or evasion is identified. This publication can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-loan-repayment-strategy.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2017 to Question 65926, on overseas students: loans, what proportion of the 2.8 per cent of borrowers resident overseas are (a) British, (b) EU and (c) non-EU nationals; and what the total value of the amount lent to borrowers resident overseas is.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Statistics covering English student loans are published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’.
The latest statistics show that there were around 113,600 English student loan borrowers, liable to repay, who were known to be overseas at the beginning of the financial year 2016-17. Of these around 25,300 (22%) were EU domiciled borrowers (those resident in the EU prior to studying).
Data provided by SLC shows that the overall outstanding loan balance of these borrowers resident overseas was around £1.6 billion, of which around £220 million (14%) was held by EU domiciled borrowers.
Information has been provided on the basis of the borrower’s prior residence as equivalent information on the basis of the borrower’s nationality would only be available at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2017 to Question 65926, on overseas students: loans, for what reasons the amount lent in 2015-16 was greater than that lent in 2014-15; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The increased spend in tuition fee loans to both English and EU domiciled students in the financial year 2015-16 is due to increasing numbers of students receiving support and a higher proportion of those students being on post-2012 tuition fee loan arrangements.
Statistics covering English student support paid to English and EU domiciled borrowers in each academic year are published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Support for Higher Education in England’.
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of the Higher Education Policy Institute report, Higher Education in New Zealand: What might the UK learn, published in July 2016.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department for Education welcomes any lessons learned and insights on approaches adopted by other countries.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total amount owed by non-UK EU graduates in English student loans has been in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Statistics covering English student loans are published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 46 of the Success as a knowledge economy White Paper published in May 2016, what plans she has to introduce an alternative model of student finance including Sharia-compliant student loans.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government has introduced the primary legislation required to allow alternative student finance, consistent with the principles of Islamic finance, to be offered alongside grants and loans. The Higher Education and Research Bill is currently before Parliament.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government takes to reclaim student loans from graduates from non-UK EU countries who fail to repay those loans.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has arrangements in place to collect repayments from borrowers who move away from the UK. SLC establishes a 12 month repayment schedule based on the borrower’s income and provides information on the methods of repayment available.
SLC sets up fixed repayment schedules for borrowers who do not remain in contact and will place those borrowers in arrears. Further action, including legal action, can then be taken to secure recovery.
The Department published a Joint Repayment Strategy in February 2016, which sets out how action will be taken to trace borrowers and act to recover loans where avoidance or evasion is identified. This publication can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-loan-repayment-strategy.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that non-UK EU nationals who graduate from UK universities having taken out student loans repay their debts within the agreed timeframe.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has arrangements in place to collect repayments from borrowers who move away from the UK. SLC establishes a 12 month repayment schedule based on the borrower’s income and provides information on the methods of repayment available.
SLC sets up fixed repayment schedules for borrowers who do not remain in contact and will place those borrowers in arrears. Further action, including legal action, can then be taken to secure recovery.
The Department published a Joint Repayment Strategy in February 2016, which sets out how action will be taken to trace borrowers and act to recover loans where avoidance or evasion is identified. This publication can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-loan-repayment-strategy.