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St. Joseph's High

Bury

Bury Church of England High

Manchester

St. Andrew's Church of England High--Phase 2

Our Lady's High

Sefton

St. Monica's Bootle

Newcastle

St. Paul's Church of England Primary

Bedfordshire

Heath Church of England Lower

Cheshire

Hartford St. Nicholas

Middlewich St. Mary's Roman Catholic Primary

Cumbria

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Junior

Devon

Plympton Roman Catholic Primary

Dorset

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary

Poole St. Peter's Roman Catholic

Bournemouth

Durham

Tudhoe St. Charles Roman Catholic

Kent

Judd School

Lancashire

Chorley St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Primary

Poulton Le Fylde, Barnes High

Leicestershire

Coalville St. Claire's Roman Catholic Primary

North Yorkshire

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Primary

Scarborough

St. Aidan's Church of England High--Phase 2

Somerset

St. Dubricus Church of England

Porlock

Long Sutton Church of England

Chewton Mendip Church of England Primary

Staffordshire

St. Mark's Church of England Primary

Surrey

Salesian Roman Catholic High

Warwickshire

St. Paul's Church of England

Leamington Spa

Liverpool

Broughton Hall Roman Catholic

Cambridgeshire

King's School, Peterborough

Student Loans

Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many banks have agreed in principle to operate the student loan scheme.

Mr. Macgregor [pursuant to the reply, 19 December 1989] : My predecessor announced on 19 June that, subject to the satisfactory outcome of the contractual negotiations, a sufficient number of financial institutions would wish to participate in the administration of the student loans scheme to ensure that the student loans company would be viable. I was able to announce on 16 November that agreement had been reached by 10 major banks to the establishment of a company, Student Loans Company Limited, to undertake preparatory work ; and to the terms on which that company would operate the scheme.

Notwithstanding those agreements I have been told today by the chairman of the Committee of London and Scottish Bankers, speaking on behalf of his own bank (Barclays) and of the National Westminster bank, the Midland bank, the TSB and the Royal Bank of Scotland


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that in view of the fact that Lloyds bank in particular was not participating in the scheme, they now wished to withdraw. I have also been told today that Lloyds has now firmly decided that it will not participate. The four Irish banks have now also confirmed that in these circumstances they wish to withdraw. I am informed that the Girobank is not in a position to take a decision about full ownership of the company.

The objectives, principles and framework of the scheme as outlined in the Education (Student Loans) Bill remain completely unchanged. The Government decided that, on balance, there were advantages in operating the mechanics of the scheme through a sufficient number of banks, whose branch networks throughout the country would have provided swift and easy access for students. The main effect of their withdrawal will be to make the process of applying for a loan less convenient for students


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themselves. I have made clear to the chairman of the Committee of London and Scottish Bankers the Government's regret that the participants feel unable to honour the commitment entered into before the 19 June statement. The relevant negotiations were satisfactorily concluded, as I announced on 16 November.

Arrangements are now being made for the Student Loans Company to pass into the ownership of the Government so as to ensure continuity in the necessary preparations for the scheme.

The Government have spent just under £1 million so far on the preparations for the loans scheme, chiefly in the form of consultancy and legal fees. Although it is not possible to attribute this precisely as between preparing for the participation of the banks and preparing for the scheme itself, the banks have agreed to contribute£0.5 million to these preparatory costs.


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OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT

Know-How Fund

Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in the Official Report a list of those projects being supported by his know-how fund, with details of the support in cash and in kind for each project.

Mrs. Chalker : We have already approved a wide range of activities under the know-how fund for Poland, costing £2.1 million. They are as follows :

Projects as at 16 December

Title :--Foreign Investment Agency

Description :--Four seminars on corporate finance, and financial and management accounting

Status :--Completed

Cost :--£56,000

Title :--Bank Handlowy

Description :--Two seminars on Treasury management and an introduction to capital markets

Status :--Completed

Cost :--£34,000

Title :--Free Market Mission

Description :--High level project identification mission in the banking and finance sector

Status :--Completed

Cost :--£113,000

Title :--Finance and the City of London

Description :--Course in financial institutions for 20 Polish visitors

Status :--To be held in February

Cost :--£61,000

Title :--Office technician and accountancy staff training Description :-- Project identification mission for training of accountancy staff

Status :--Completed

Cost :--£29,000

Title :--Privatisation conference

Description :--Conference

Status :--Completed

Cost :--£33,000

Title :--Job Ownership

Description :--Study tour of UK employee-owned businesses Status :-- Completed

Cost :--£12,000

Title :--Warszawskie Zaklady Telewizyjne (WZT)

Description :--Pilot consultancy on employee ownership

Status :--Underway

Cost :--£12,000

Title :--Management Study tour

Description :--Directors of Polish management education schools to undertake two-week UK study tour

Status :--Completed

Cost :--£31,000

Title :--Management seminars

Description :--Seminars on marketing and export promotion Status :--To be implemented

Cost :--£23,000

Title :--Young management graduates

Description :--Two month programme at Strathclyde

Status :--To be implemented

Cost :--£222,000

Title :--Management educators

Description :--Training of trainers at Strathclyde

Status :--To be implemented

Cost :--£251,000


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