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7 Jan 2010 : Column 585W—continued
Postal Services: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if his Department will make an assessment of whether post office services in Castle Point constituency comply with the access criteria set out in the Network Change Programme. [308984]
Mr. McFadden: I have asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of Post Office Ltd, to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Renewable Energy: Government Assistance
Gregory Barker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department has contributed to the development of the Government's proposed feed-in tariffs scheme. [307972]
Mr. McFadden: The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has contributed to the development of the Government's proposed feed-in tariffs scheme as part of the normal policy-making process. Officials of the Department have had bilateral meetings with officials of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, are members the Renewable Financial Incentives Programme Board and have agreed the consultation proposals.
Research: Finance
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Higher Education Funding Council for England and (b) Research Councils UK on the effect on fundamental scientific research of the proposed impact plans; and if he will make a statement. [308323]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 6 January 2010]: My colleagues, officials and I discuss a range of issues with HEFCE and the Research Councils regularly.
Both HEFCE and the Research Councils recognise the breadth of ways in which impact is delivered and the long time horizons often required. Both understand impact broadly to include, for example, benefits to the economy, society, public policy, and quality of life.
The UK has a world-class research base of which we can be rightly proud: second only to the US across a broad range of disciplines and the most productive research base in the G8. Government funding for the research base has doubled in real terms since 1997 and it is right that we recognise the impact of excellent research and remove barriers to harvesting the benefits it delivers to the nation.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Research Councils undertake complementary work to pursue that objective. HEFCE recently consulted on proposals for the Research Excellence Framework (REF), and Research Councils have recently introduced impact statements to grant application forms.
The REF will recognise and reward university departments with a track record of delivering impacts from excellent research in the past. Research Council impact statements encourage researchers to consider the potential impact of their work when applying for grants.
Greater emphasis on impact poses no threat to fundamental research. The primary criterion of both peer review and retrospective research assessment remains research excellence.
Students
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students in higher education have received payments in respect of (a) tuition fee loans, (b) maintenance loans, (c) grants for living costs, (d) bursaries and scholarships and (e) extra help for students with children or adult dependants in (i) Vale of York constituency, (ii) North Yorkshire and (iii) England in each of the last three years; and what the monetary value was of each such type of payment in each area in each such year. [307414]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested is in the following tables.
| Student support North Yorkshire( 1) academic year 2006/07 to 2008/09 | ||
| Students | Value (£) | |
| (1) Student numbers rounded to nearest 10, value of support rounded to nearest £1,000. (2) Includes Maintenance Grant, Higher Education Grant, Special Support Grant, Parental Learning Allowance, Travel Grant and Disabled Student Allowance. Source: Student Loans Company | ||
| Student support( 1) England academic years 2006/07 to 2008/09 | ||
| Students (thousand) | Value (£ million) | |
| (1) Student numbers rounded to nearest 1,000, value of support rounded to nearest £ million. (2) Maintenance Grant and Higher Education Grant. Source: Student Loans Company | ||
The information requested on bursaries and scholarships is not available centrally as they are the responsibility of Higher Education Institutions. Reliable information is not available at constituency level. Complete information for the current academic year 2009/10 is not yet available, and will be available in late 2010 when a Statistical First Release on Student Support will be published on the Student Loans Company website.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students in higher education did not receive payments in respect of (a) tuition fee loans, (b) maintenance loans, (c) grants for living costs, (d) bursaries and scholarships and (e) extra help for students with children or adult dependants to which they were entitled before the commencement of their course in (i) Vale of York constituency, (ii) North Yorkshire and (iii) England in each of the last three years; and what the monetary value was of each such type of payment not made to students from each area in each such year before the commencement of their courses. [307415]
Mr. Lammy: Tuition fee loans are not paid before commencement of the course. The information requested on bursaries and scholarships is not available centrally as they are the responsibility of higher education institutions. The other information requested in the answer cannot be produced except at disproportionate cost.
Students: Loans
Paul Holmes:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students from Chesterfield constituency have
received student loans for university courses in each year since 1996-97. [308995]
Mr. Lammy: Reliable information to answer this question is not available at constituency level.
Students: Milton Keynes
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students resident in the Milton Keynes area (a) attended university courses and (b) received student loans to attend university courses in each year since 1997. [308089]
Mr. Lammy: The latest available information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on enrolments from Milton Keynes local authority is shown in table 1. Figures for the 2008/09 academic year will be available in January 2010.
| Table 1: Enrolments( 1) from Milton Keynes local authority, UK higher education institutions( 2) , academic year 1997/98 to 2007/08 | |
| Academic year | Enrolments |
| (1) Covers enrolments to both full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses. (2) Excludes the Open university due to inconsistencies in its data across the time series. Note: Figures are based on a snapshot count as at 1 December to maintain consistency across the time series and have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). | |
Data from the Student Loans Company on the number of student loan borrowers from Milton Keynes are shown in table 2.
| Table 2: Income contingent student loan borrowers, 2001/02 to 2008/09( 1) | |
| Academic year | Students receiving loans |
| (1) Consistent data are not available before 2001/02. Figures cover income contingent loans for maintenance and tuition fees. Older mortgage style loans are excluded. Source: Student Loans Company. | |
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