Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether University student fee loans are classified as public sector borrowing.

The fiscal impact of student loans is measured by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The statistics the ONS publishes are independent, following methodologies designed in consultation with the international statistical community and in line with the European System of Accounts (ESA). The ONS treat student loans partly as loans, since some portion will be repaid, and partly as capital transfers, since some will not. This treatment applies both to tuition fee loans and maintenance loans. Under this partitioned loan-transfer approach, what counts to public sector net borrowing and public sector net financial liabilities is the transfer, less modified interest – the interest accruing on the loan portion.