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25 Feb 2005 : Column 872W—continued
Race Relations (Amendment) Act
Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) local education authorities and (b) universities have (i) complied with their statutory duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, (ii) published a race equality scheme and action plan and (iii) carried out race impact assessments. [216548]
Dr. Howells:
The Department is not responsible for ensuring or monitoring the compliance of local education authorities or higher education institutions (HEIs) with requirements arising from the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, and so does not hold such information.
25 Feb 2005 : Column 873W
Under the Act, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) monitors compliance and enforces specific duties. A CRE news release on the findings of its survey of the progress of Britain's public bodies towards putting the legislation into practice is available at http://www.cre.gov.uk/media/nr_arch/2003/nr030703.html.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has a responsibility to ensure that the HEIs it funds comply with the Act. HEFCE undertook a sector-wide review of race equality policies in October 2002, followed up by two further reviews (in May 2003 and May 2004) in which it revisited those policies which had not originally met CRE's standards. A HEFCE report on the outcomes of this review process is available at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/Pubs/rdreports/2004/rd09_04/.
Specialist Schools
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the specialist schools closed since 1997, broken down by (a) local education authority and (b) constituency. [217766]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Since 1997 three specialist schools have closed for the following reasons:
Westlands High (Cheshire LEA, Congleton Constituency, Technology College)
Westlands School closed with two other schools (Dane Valley and Heathfield) as part of a local reorganisation in 2000 and two new schools opened in their place, Congleton High (Engineering College from 2004) and Eaton Bank School (Maths and Computing College from 2004).
Merlyn Rees (Leeds LEA, Leeds Central Constituency, Arts College)
Closed with Matthew Murray High in 2003 to form a new school, South Leeds College (not currently a Specialist School).
Coney Green (Bury LEA, Bury South Constituency, Technology College)
Coney Green closed with Radcliffe High in 2004 to form a new school, Radcliffe Riverside School (Technology College from 2004).
Staff Identity Passes
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost of producing a staff identity pass was in the Department on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many staff identity passes have been reported lost or stolen in each year since 1997. [215090]
Derek Twigg: The cost of producing a staff identity pass in the Department for Education and Skills is £1.87. This is made up of material costs at 0.50 pence and staff costs at £1.37. The number of staff identity passes that have been reported lost or stolen in each year since 1997 are:
| Number of passes | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | (18)19 |
| 1998 | (18)34 |
| 1999 | (18)25 |
| 2000 | (18)73 |
| 2001 | 163 |
| 2002 | 200 |
| 2003 | 434 |
| 2004 | 99 |
| 2005 | 10 |
(18) Partial numbers only due to records not retained.
25 Feb 2005 : Column 874W
Stationery
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Department and its predecessors spent on (a) stationery and (b) office supplies in each year since 1997. [213852]
Derek Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills has national contracts for the provision of stationery and office supplies, with purchasing delegated to management level. Our accounting system does not make a distinction between stationery and office supplies. Information regarding expenditure is shown in the following table:
Financial year | Total expenditure on stationery and office supplies (£) |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 930,031 |
| 1998–99 | 956,745 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,107,350 |
| 2000–01 | 1,184,931 |
| 2001–02 | 1,232,297 |
| 2002–03 | 1,015,163 |
| 2003–04 | 951,448 |
Student Debt
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research her Department has undertaken on whether student loans are a disincentive to (a) mature students and (b) students from ethnic minority backgrounds to entering further and higher education. [217551]
Dr. Howells: The Department has published the following studies that have investigated the factors, including cost and attitudes to debt, that influence whether mature people and people from minority ethnic groups decide to enter higher education:
"Why The Difference? A Closer Look at Higher Education Minority Ethnic Students and Graduates" 2004 DfES Research Report 552.
"For Me or Not For Me? That is the Question: A Study of Mature Students' Decision- Making and Higher Education" 2002 DfES Research Report 297
These reports can be downloaded from the Department's research internet site at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/. They show that debt and cost are one of several factors people consider when deciding whether or not to participate in higher education.
All minority ethnic groups and mature people are well-represented in higher education. For example, all minority ethnic groups are estimated to have a higher higher education initial participation rate (HEIPR) than whites while mature students now comprise over three fifths of the student population.
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The Department has not commissioned research on whether student loans deter mature people and people from minority ethnic groups from entering FE. FE students are not eligible for student loans.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much her Department allocated to the Student Loans Company in 2004–05. [217560]
Dr. Howells: The Student Loans Company's total resource budget provided by the DfES was £46 million for financial year 2004–05. Outturn against budget is reported each year in the Department's Annual Report which can be accessed on http://www.dfes.gov.uk/deptreport2004/, and in the company's own annual report at http://www.slc.co.uk/frames/corpinfo/fset.html.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many deferral applications the Student Loans Company has received in each year of its operation; and what percentage this represents of all students due to repay in each year. [217562]
Dr. Howells: Deferral of payment only occurs for the mortgage-style loans. The table shows the numbers of UK borrowers with publicly owned mortgage-style loans due to be repaid, numbers deferring, and deferrals as a percentage of those in repayment status, at the end of each financial year.
(19) The number of those in deferment before 1992–93 was negligible.
(20) Two tranches of student loans were sold to the private sector, in March 1998 and March 1999, this accounts for the reduction in the number of borrowers shown in the table in the following years.
(21) Provisional.
Source:
Student Loans Company
Income-contingent loans were introduced from the start of the academic year 1998/99. There is no concept of deferment for those with income-contingent loans
25 Feb 2005 : Column 876W
who repay through the tax system—repayments are not collected from those below the earnings threshold.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many default notices the Student Loans Company has issued in each year of its operation; and what percentage this represents of all students due to make repayments in each year. [217563]
Dr. Howells: The Student Loans Company only issues Notices of Default (NODs) after a few months of arrears when initial attempts at contact have failed. Therefore not all borrowers behind with payments are issued with NODs. In addition some borrowers may be issued with more than one NOD. Therefore it is not possible to calculate the number of borrowers in receipt of NODs as a percentage of the total number of borrowers in repayment status. Data are readily available only for the past three years.
| NODs issued | |
|---|---|
| 2002/03 April–March | 226,299 |
| 2003/04 April–March | 188,897 |
| 2004/05 April–February | 99,474 |
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will commission research to determine what percentage of student debt is a consequence of the introduction of the student loans system. [217565]
Dr. Howells: Increases in average personal student debt, including estimates of student loan debt, have been recorded in periodic student income and expenditure surveys (SIES) in the period since student loans were first introduced; and a further survey is being conducted at the present time, with publication of the report in late 2005. According to the latest published SIES, for 2002/03, outstanding average student loan debt for final year students totalled £8,052 which was 85 per cent. of their total average borrowings of £9,512. However, final year students on average had savings of £846 reducing their average indebtedness to £8,666. Figures for average student loan debt are also available from the Student Loans Company.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many student loans debts have been written off in each of the last five years; and what the total cash value of the deleted debt was. [217566]
Dr. Howells: The table shows the numbers of UK borrowers with publicly-owned student loans written-off in financial years 1999–2000 to 2003–04 and the amounts written-off. This includes borrowers with mortgage-style loans and those with income-contingent loans.
| Financial year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (22)1999–2000 | (23)2000–01 | (23)2001–02 | (23)2002–03 | (23)2003–04 | |
| Borrowers (24) | 900 | 600 | 900 | 1,100 | 1,200 |
| Amount written-off (£ million) | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
(22) Figures for 1999–2000 include some transactions which relate to the previous financial year.
(23) Provisional
(24) Borrowers who had at least one loan account written-off during the financial year.
Source:
Student Loans Company
25 Feb 2005 : Column 877W
The introduction of income-contingent student loans in 1998–99 has meant the amount of student loan paid out has increased, and consequently the amounts written-off are larger. The first cohort with income-contingent loans on three year courses entered repayment status in April 2002.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research her Department has undertaken to assess the impact of Student Loans on students from less affluent backgrounds entering further and higher education. [217567]
Dr. Howells: In March 2001 the Department published a research entitled "Social Class and Higher Education: Issues Affecting Decisions on Participation by Lower Social Class Groups" by Connor, H. Dewson, S. Tyers, C. Eccles, J. Regan, J. and Aston, J. This can be downloaded from the Department's research internet site at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/.
This found that finance is one of a number of concerns people had when they were deciding whether or not to attend university. However, among qualified young people who had decided not to go to university the main reason was not related to the likely costs involved but because they wanted to start work or because they did not need a higher education qualification for their chosen career.
The Youth Cohort Study shows that differences in participation rates between different social class groups largely reflect differences in prior attainment. The Department has not commissioned research on whether student loans deter people from less affluent backgrounds from entering FE. FE students are not eligible for student loans.
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