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Column 256
St. Joseph's HighBury
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
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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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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