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9 Jun 2010 : Column 192W—continued
Higher Education: Finance
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of students studying for a higher education qualification in (a) a further education college and (b) other institutions in 2008-09 were (i) directly funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, (ii) funded via a university and (iii) funded by the Learning and Skills Council. [913]
Mr Willetts: The latest available information from the Learning and Skills Council and the Higher Education Statistics Agency is provided in the attached tables.
| Table 2: Higher Education Enrolment( 1) by Source of Funding English Higher Education Institutions: Academic Year 2008-09 | ||
| Source of funding | Number | Proportion (%) |
| (1) Covers postgraduate and undergraduate students of all domiciles enrolled on full-time and part-time courses. Notes: Figures are based on a HESA Standard Registration Population. Figures are rounded to the nearest five, so components may not sum to total. Percentages are given to one decimal place. HEFCE: Higher Education Funding Council for England LSC: Learning and Skills Council Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record | ||
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to make in-year changes to his Department's budgetary provision for each university in the West Midlands in 2010-11. [1510]
Mr Willetts: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) announced provisional allocations to institutions for academic year 2010/11 on 18 March 2010. As in previous years, final allocations taking into account any further changes, including those resulting from the Chancellor's statement on 24 May 2010, will be announced by HEFCE in July this year.
Higher Education: Student Numbers
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people were in higher education in each (a) constituency and (b) local authority area in (i) 1997 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available; and what estimate he has made of the number of young people likely to be in higher education in each such area in the next three years. [1240]
Mr Willetts: The latest available information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), showing young undergraduate enrolments by constituency and local authority, will be placed in the Libraries of the House. Figures for the 2009/10 academic year will be available from HESA in January 2011.
The Department does not make forward estimates of student numbers below national level. Estimates for the next three years are therefore not available by age group, local authority or constituency.
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the change in the number of students studying at universities in the west midlands between academic years 2009-10 and 2010-11. [1452]
Mr Willetts: The number of students in each institution will depend upon the recruitment decisions taken by individual institutions. However, we are making available funding for an additional 10,000 places in academic year 2010/11 which will be allocated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Northwest Regional Development Agency
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills by what date he plans to decide whether to abolish the Northwest Regional Development Agency. [1644]
Mr Prisk: The Government will provide further detail on the future of the regional development agencies and how we propose to take forward our proposals for local enterprise partnerships in due course.
Regional Development Agencies
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which individual (a) programmes and (b) grants in each regional development agency he has identified as lower-value expenditure to contribute towards his Department's proposed expenditure reductions. [1395]
Mr Prisk: No decisions have been made on how projects/programmes currently delivered by the regional development agencies (RDAs) will be affected. We are working closely with the RDAs to minimise the impact on priority programmes in line with Government priorities. Affected programmes and projects will be kept fully informed as specific decisions are made and plans are developed.
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has made an assessment of the merits of Advantage West Midlands' plans to allocate funding to Castle Hill in Dudley; and if he will ensure that the funding for those plans will not be affected by the implementation of the reductions needed to achieve the £100 million reduction in expenditure set out by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 24 May 2010. [1445]
Mr Prisk: The Government have set out plans to make over £6 billion of savings. The RDAs outside London (which is being dealt with separately) will contribute £270 million from their programme budgets. We are in discussions with the RDAs about how this will translate across the RDA network. Decisions as to how these reductions impact on individual projects will be for the RDAs themselves. We have however indicated that we wish to minimise the impact in the north-east, north-west, Yorkshire and the west midlands.
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received from local authorities in the west midlands on the work of Advantage West Midlands. [1520]
Mr Prisk: The Department has had no formal representation from individual local authorities in the west midlands on the work of Advantage West Midlands. The West Midlands Joint Strategy and Investment Board (JS&IB) has however requested a meeting to discuss how they can help rebalance the regional economy and I hope to meet them in due course.
Sheffield Forgemasters: Finance
Mr MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will maintain the present level of financial support from his Department for Sheffield Forgemasters. [1388]
Mr Prisk: In line with the statement given by my right hon. Friend the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 17 May, and along with other projects which were approved after January 2010, the loan to Forgemasters is undergoing a process of review. An announcement will be made in due course as part of the review.
Students: Loans
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many EU nationals have claimed a maintenance loan while attending university in the UK in the last 10 years; and how many such EU nationals are in arrears in respect of their loan repayments; [360]
(2) how many nationals of other EU countries attending university in England were in receipt of a maintenance loan in each of the last five years; and how many are in arrears with repayment; [654]
(3) how many nationals of other European countries attending university in England and in receipt of a maintenance loan have defaulted on repayments in each of the last five years. [670]
Mr Willetts [holding answer 2 June 2010]: The information requested is available for tuition fee loans, but not available in the format requested for maintenance loans.
European Union (EU) nationals are generally eligible for tuition fee support only, provided that they have been ordinarily resident in the European economic area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course. EU nationals have been eligible to apply for tuition fee loans since they were introduced in the 2006/07academic year.
EU nationals who have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course may also qualify for maintenance loans. Additionally, certain EEA and Swiss migrant workers and specified family members, children of Swiss nationals, and children of Turkish workers in the UK may be eligible for the full support package provided that they satisfy specific residence conditions.
By June 2009 there were 4,800 EU borrowers who had studied in England who had become liable to repay tuition fee loans. Of those, 600 were considered to be in arrears. The majority of this 600 are borrowers who are known to be overseas, have not provided details of their income, and have therefore been set up with repayment schedules and put into notional arrears in order that the Student Loans Company can commence tracing and possibly legal action where appropriate. This is an essential step in the overseas collection process. This figure does also include those accounts where borrowers have defaulted on their loan repayments.
On 22 June the Student Loans Company is due to publish updated figures in Income Contingent Repayments by Repayment Cohort and Tax Year 2000/01 to 2008/09.
Trade Unions
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to consult trade unions in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies on cost reduction plans. [598]
Mr Davey: On 26 May 2010 the HR Director for BIS and his team met with the departmental trade unions (PCS, prospect and FDA) regarding the implications of the Chancellor's announcement on 24 May. A programme of weekly meetings is being set up to maintain the dialogue and consultation on this.
The agencies of BIS have their own trade union representatives and consultative arrangements. Meetings between management and the trade unions in the agencies are taking place to discuss the implications of the Chancellor's announcement.
Vocational Training: North East
Mr Iain Wright:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to
take to increase the skills levels of the workforce in (a) Hartlepool constituency and (b) the North East. [88]
Mr Hayes: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will seek to drive up the skills levels of the workforce by directing public funding where it will bring the clearest benefits. We will also make sure that employers and individuals have the information they need to make the best choices about investing in training. We have begun to rebalance skills provision by redeploying £150 million of Train to Gain funding to create 50,000 high-quality Apprenticeship places, focused on small and medium sized enterprises. We are also taking action to set colleges and training organisations free from excessive bureaucracy and direct state control, to give them the freedom to respond better to local needs.
The Skills Funding Agency is responsible for the delivery of public funds for skills training, including Apprenticeships. Hartlepool and the North East will benefit from the refocusing of funding towards higher-quality training with clearer benefits. In excess of £6 million of public funding will be supporting skills training delivered in Hartlepool in 2010-11 covering a diverse range of programmes to meet the needs of individuals and employers, including apprentices. This is supplemented by a range of other Teesside programmes which are accessible to many of those living in Hartlepool.
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