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2 Mar 2004 : Column 905W—continued
Student Finance
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate the Student Loan
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Company has made of the number of graduates who were in receipt of income contingent loans who are currently overseas; and what proportion of these have continued to make loan repayments. [155456]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 27 February 2004]: Repayments from borrowers who live overseas are made directly to the Student Loans Company (SLC). 4,700 people who should be repaying their income-contingent loan are currently living overseas. 56 per cent. of these have made no repayments because their income is below the repayment threshold of £10,000 per year; 32 per cent. have made repayments. The remainder are people who have not yet provided sufficient evidence in order for the SLC to assess their liability to repay their income-contingent loan.
Sure Start
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people have been affected by the new rules requiring accreditation by Sure Start because their childminder looks after children in the children's home. [156392]
Margaret Hodge: I should clarify the situation regarding the Home Childcarers Scheme to which this question refers. The scheme was launched in April 2003 to extend eligibility to tax credits to families using childcare in their own homes. It does not impose a new accreditation requirement on home based carers—seeking approval is entirely voluntary. Prior to the introduction of this scheme if a family needed to use childcare in their own home it was not possible to have this approved, or to access the childcare element of the Working Families Tax Credit.
Currently there are 124 Home Childcarers who have been approved, by Ofsted, to care for children in the children's home. Home Childcarers can be employed by more than one family so the number of families using a Home Childcarer is unknown.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many parents have lost their entitlement to the childcare element of Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit because they did not possess accreditation by Sure Start of the childminder operating in the parents' home. [156393]
Margaret Hodge: No parents have lost their entitlement to tax credits under this scheme. The purpose of the Home Childcarer Scheme is to extend the availability of tax credits rather than to restrict it.
Prior to the Home Childcarers Scheme parents using childcare in the child's home were not eligible to claim the childcare element of the Working Families Tax Credit (now replaced by the Working Tax Credit). The introduction of this scheme has enabled some parents to claim tax credits when before they were unable to do so.
This Government are committed to extending the Home Childcarers Scheme to carers other than registered childminders and to enable more parents to benefit from the help available through tax credits. We are committed to holding a consultation on the options for an extension in spring 2004.
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Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has held with Her Majesty's Treasury on debt problems faced by parents who have lost Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit because of the new Sure Start accreditation arrangements; and if he will make a statement. [156394]
Margaret Hodge: As the purpose of the Home Childcarer Scheme is to extend the availability of tax credits rather than to restrict it no parents have faced debt problems as a result of its introduction.
Taiwanese Students
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many Taiwanese nationals study at universities in the UK; [151274]
- (2) what he estimates the total amount in fees paid by Taiwanese nationals at UK universities was in the last academic year for which figures are available. [153124]
Alan Johnson: In 2002/03 there were 4,248 Taiwanese nationals enrolled on higher education courses at UK higher education institutions.
Estimates of the total amount of fees paid by overseas nationals are not held centrally.
University Attendance
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people attended university from (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside local education authority and (c) the United Kingdom in each year since 1996. [148448]
Alan Johnson: Figures at constituency level are not held centrally. The available information at local education authority level covers accepted applicants to full time first degree and HND courses through the Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS).
| Year of entry | South Tyneside LEA domiciles | English domiciles(35) |
|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 497 | 220,891 |
| 1997–98 | 644 | 251,904 |
| 1998–99 | 618 | 245,914 |
| 1999–2000 | 596 | 249,883 |
| 2000–01 | 623 | 254,472 |
| 2001–02 | 655 | 269,447 |
| 2002–03 | 665 | 274,345 |
(35) Accepted applicants with unknown English domicile are excluded from the figures.
Source:
Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS)
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school leavers attended university from (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside local education authority and (c) the United Kingdom in each year since 1996; and what percentage these were of the total number of school leavers in each of these years. [148449]
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Alan Johnson: Figures at constituency level are not held centrally. The available information at local education authority level covers accepted applicants to full time first degree and HMD courses through the Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS).
| South Tyneside LEAdomiciles | English domiciles(36) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of entry | Number of 18 year olds accepted to HE courses | Percentage of 18 year olds in LEA | Number of 18 year olds accepted to HE courses | Percentage of 18 year olds in England |
| 1996 | 239 | 13.7 | 109,646 | 19.9 |
| 1997 | 318 | 15.7 | 123,065 | 20.5 |
| 1998 | 299 | 14.8 | 124,077 | 20.0 |
| 1999 | 307 | 15.2 | 122,607 | 20.0 |
| 2000 | 330 | 16.7 | 123,596 | 20.6 |
| 2001 | 336 | 17.2 | 131,200 | 21.5 |
| 2002 | 353 | 17.4 | 134,727 | 22.0 |
(36) Accepted applicants with unknown English domicile are excluded from the figures.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum Seekers
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seeking households containing children or pregnant women were placed in bed and breakfast accommodation by the National Asylum Support Service under legislation other than the Housing Act 1996 and are as a consequence not included in the provisions of the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003 in each of the last five years. [152333]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 2 February 2004]: The general practice of the National Asylum Support Service is that households containing children or pregnant women are not placed in bed and breakfast accommodation in dispersal areas.
However, NASS grant funds six voluntary sector agencies to provide emergency accommodation, which is temporary accommodation provided pending dispersal, who provide a mixture of accommodation which may include bed and breakfast accommodation.
I am unable to provide the requested information and could only do so at disproportionate cost.
Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answers of 25 February 2004, Official Report, column 277, to the hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Inverness West, (1) with which countries the Government is in negotiations, other than Tanzania, on how to process claims for asylum nearer to the country of origin; [158114]
- (2) whether such claims would be for recognition of refugee status in (a) Tanzania and (b) the UK; [158115]
(3) whether the processing of such claims for non-Tanzanian nationals would be carried out in Tanzania. [158286]
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Beverley Hughes: Apart from Tanzania, we have not yet started any negotiations with other countries. These partnerships are not about processing asylum claims nearer to the country of origin. Rather the Tanzanians are helping us to establish whether certain failed asylum seekers in the United Kingdom who claimed as Somali are in fact Tanzanian. We are also seeking to help them better manage their own refugee caseload.
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