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24 Mar 2009 : Column 342W—continued
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills when he plans to reply to the letter of 11 February 2009 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr I Muhammad. [266367]
Mr. Simon: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills replied to this letter on 23 March 2009.
Performing Arts
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether his Department has engaged any (a) actors, (b) musicians and (c) other performers to support its initiatives over the last five years. [264050]
Mr. Simon: The Department's record/financial systems are not able to identify this information within disproportionate cost threshold.
Science: Research
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent steps he has taken to promote scientific research in universities in (a) England, (b) the North East and (c) Tees Valley district. [264373]
Mr. Lammy: Government investment in science and research is at record levels, and will reach just under £6 billion by 2010-11. Much of this funding is allocated to universities.
This takes Government support for the UK's research base to its highest ever level and will enable the UK to maintain its leading position in research excellence, as well as helping to build a stronger economy.
Funding is allocated on the basis of research excellence, not geographical location.
In 2006-07, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) recurrent research grants and Research Council grants to universities in England totalled £2.3 billion, of which £97 million went to universities in the north-east.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency, Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2006-07)
Students
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) what percentage of university students are UK nationals; [264738]
(2) what percentage of undergraduate places on science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses in universities in England are filled by UK nationals. [264739]
Mr. Lammy: Nationality is not a compulsory return on the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record. As domicile is compulsory (and is therefore included for all students), this has been provided as an alternative.
In the 2007/08 academic year, 85 per cent. of enrolments on higher education courses at English higher education institutions were UK domiciled.
The following table shows the percentage of undergraduate enrolments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses who were UK domiciled.
| Undergraduate enrolments( 1) on science, technology, engineering and mathematics( 2) courses by domicile, English higher education institutions, academic year 2007/08 | |
| Subject of study | Percentage UK domiciled |
| (1 )Covers undergraduate enrolments to both full-time and part-time courses. (2 )The subjects listed in the table are what the Department define as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). | |
Students: Fees
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will consult the Welsh Assembly Government as part of the review of the cap on tuition fees. [265505]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 20 March 2009]: The review will be independent of the Government, but we would expect it to consult widely both within the higher education sector, and outside, before delivering its findings.
There was a commitment to Parliament to review the cap on tuition fees after the first group of students who paid variable fees completed their degrees. As such, the review cannot start before this summer.
Students: Finance
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what information his Department holds on the number of UK domiciled full-time students enrolled on (a) first-degree and (b) other degree courses at an English higher education institution who left their course for financial reasons in each of the last 10 years. [264843]
Mr. Lammy: The latest available information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is shown in the following table. Figures for the 2008/09 academic year will be available in January 2010.
| UK domiciled full-time first degree and other undergraduate enrolments who left their course having neither completed nor transferred and, of this group, those who left for financial reasons. English higher education institutions( 1) —academic years 1998/99 to 2007/08 | ||||
| First Degree | Other UG | |||
| Of which: | Of which: | |||
| Academic year | Total who left having neither completed nor transferred | Left for financial reasons | Total who left having neither completed nor transferred | Left for financial reasons |
| (1) Figures exclude the Open University due to inconsistencies in their coding of undergraduate study over the time series. Note: Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December and have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) | ||||
The reason for leaving information on the HESA Student Record should be treated with some caution, because the ‘Other personal reasons and dropped out’ and ‘Other’ fields are used extensively. Institutions are not always able to record the precise reason for leaving. Furthermore, HESA allows only one reason for withdrawal to be recorded, however it is likely that many students leave for a combination of reasons.
Students: Loans
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many graduates who are earning between £15,000 and £30,000 are making student loan repayments. [264769]
Mr. Lammy: In tax year 2006-07, the most recent year for which published data were available, 324,900 English-domiciled borrowers with earnings between £15,000 and £30,000 were repaying their income contingent student loans.
This figure is not comparable with figures published in the Student Loans Statistical First Release because it is calculated on a tax year basis whereas the SFR figures are calculated on a financial year basis.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what rates of interest have been charged to students who have loans with the Student Loans Company over the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [265384]
Mr. Lammy: The interest rates applicable to student loans for the last five academic years are as follows:
| Percentage | ||
| Income contingent repayment loans | Mortgage-style loans | |
| (1) From 1 September 2008 (2) From 5 December 2008 (3) From 9 January 2009 (4) From 6 February 2009 (5) From 6 March 2009 | ||
The interest rate to be charged on mortgage-style student loans, i.e. those taken out before 1 September 1998, is set out in the Education (Student Loans) Act 1990 and the Education (Student Loans) Regulations 1998, which provide for a link to the Retail Price Index (RPI). Specifically, the interest rate for an academic year is the annual movement in the RPI for the year to the previous March. Therefore, the interest rate of 3.8 per cent. for
the 2008/09 academic year reflects movements in the RPI for the year to March 2008.
The legislative provisions for Income Contingent Repayment student loans, i.e. those taken out since 1 September 1998, also provide a link to the RPI. However, once set each September, the rate of interest must not exceed 1 per cent. above the highest of the base rates of a specified number of banks (the ‘low’ interest cap). The low interest cap was triggered in December 2008 when the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England reduced the bank base rate ‘in year’ to 2 per cent. and further reduced it in January, February and March of 2009.
Youth at Risk
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills in which universities the two-year student leadership pilot being run by Youth at Risk is operating; and how much his Department has spent on the pilot. [264887]
Mr. Lammy: The two-year pilot Student Leadership Programme run by Youth at Risk is operating in London Metropolitan university, the university of Bedfordshire and Thames Valley university. The project has been running since July 2008 and so far DIUS has provided £153,000 of funding.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Bankruptcy
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many people were declared bankrupt in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) the Tees Valley and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each of the last 10 years. [254911]
Mr. McFadden: Table 1 as follows shows the number of bankruptcy orders recorded in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) Tees Valley and Durham, and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each year from 2000 to 2007.
| Table: 1 | ||||||||
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| Note: 1. The geographic system used to classify areas does not identify Tees Valley separately from Durham. 2. Regional figures are not yet available for 2008, nor for years prior to 2000. 3. Classifying insolvent individuals into administrative geographies is done using the postcode that the person provides. 4. Inaccurate or missing postcodes mean that the numbers in the above table will be subject to an element of missing data. Nationally, this proportion has been decreasing from about 12 per cent. in 2000 to less than 4 per cent. in 2007. | ||||||||
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