Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Written Statement of 6 February 2017, HCWS458, on the sale of part of the English student loan book, how many graduates will have their student loans sold; what the face value of the remaining loans in that part of the English student loan book is; and what the fair market value of the remaining loans in that part of the English student loan book is.

The Government has started the process required to sell part of the English student loan book. The sale covers loans issued under the previous (“pre-2012”) system, specifically those which entered repayment between 2002 and 2006. A loan enters repayment the April after the student has left their course. Loans held by around 450,000 borrowers are in scope of the sale. The position of these graduates will not be affected as a result of the sale.

The total face value of the pre-2012 loan book is around £46bn (2014-15 figures).

The face value of the outstanding balances of the loans in the scope of the first sale totalled around £4 billion (at end of Financial Year 2014-15). The retention value to Government is lower and is calculated using standard Treasury Green Book methodology developed for asset sales, and also accounts for Government subsidy of the student loan system. The loans which are being sold have already been in repayment for over ten years, and therefore much of the original value of the loans has already been paid back to Government.

The retention value to Government is lower and is calculated using standard Treasury Green Book methodology developed for asset sales, and also accounts for Government subsidy of the student loan system. The loans which are being sold have already been in repayment for over ten years, and therefore much of the original value of the loans has already been paid back to Government.

Estimates of the fair market value are not something the Government can discuss if we are to preserve a competitive commercial process which delivers value for money for taxpayers.