Answers issued to Members on 27 October 2008
[R] signifies that the Member has declared an interest.
[W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
Contents
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport
Questions to the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport
Alun Cairns (South Wales West): Will the Minister please list the criteria that he uses to consider which parts of Wales should become Strategic Regeneration Areas? (WAQ52629)
Alun Cairns (South Wales West): How many Strategic Regeneration Areas does the Minister envisage establishing by the end of this year and by the end of next year? (WAQ52630)
Alun Cairns (South Wales West): What process should a Local Authority follow in order to be considered as a Strategic Regeneration Area? (WAQ52631)
The Deputy Minister for Regeneration (Leighton Andrews): I made a statement in the Assembly on Strategic Regeneration on 14th October when I outlined the criteria for deciding on Strategic Regeneration Areas. As I said then, the number, scale and budget for these will be determined on a case by case basis. If local authorities have proposals for Strategic Regeneration Areas they are welcome to bring them forward to me.
Questions to the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills
Mike German (South Wales East): How many live accounts, held by Welsh graduates of higher education are indebted to the Student Loan Company for which no repayment is currently being received, broken down by reason for the lack of repayment? (WAQ52641)
Y Gweinidog dros Blant, Addysg, Dysgu Gydol Oes a Sgiliau (Jane Hutt): At the end of the financial year 2007-08, there were a total of 166,300 open loan accounts held by Welsh borrowers. Of those 81,200 income-contingent loan borrowers and nearly 22,700 (from Table 2ii) mortgage-style loan borrowers were past Statutory Repayment Due Date, i.e. due to repay loans if their income was above the relevant threshold.
The Statistical First Release Student Loans for Higher Education in Wales, Financial Year 2007-08 published by the Student Loans Company in June 2008, included the following provisional information. http://www.slc.co.uk/pdf/slcsfr032008.pdf
The following table provides details of those borrowers either not yet in repayment or are past their statutory repayment date for income contingent loan borrowers
Income-contingent loan borrowers [1] March 2008
Non-repayment categories (records being matched and information being collected) |
4,500 |
Below earnings threshold |
37,700 |
Living overseas - in arrears |
Less than 100 |
Not yet repaying subtotal |
42,200 (sum of the unrounded figures from the above three categories) |
SLC awaiting first year HMRC return - repayment status not yet determined [2] |
15,900 |
Above earnings threshold -repaying |
23,100 |
Past Statutory Repayment due date total |
81,200 |
[1] Excludes borrowers not yet required to repay because they are still in higher education or have recently left and those with accounts being closed. With the inclusion of these borrowers the total number of borrowers with open ICR loan accounts is 145,200 (from Table 2iii).
[2] Those for whom the first tax year return has not yet been received by SLC so their repayment status cannot yet be determined. This will include some borrowers who are repaying and SLC will be passed details of their repayments after the end of their first tax year of repaying.
The vast majority of income-contingent borrowers who are not repaying (89% (calculated on the unrounded figures for C-d as a % of C c+d+e) of those not repaying) earn below the £15,000 threshold and are not therefore required to make any repayments. Repayments for a further 11% have not yet started because details are still being matched with employer’s records or other information that is being collected.
The following table provides details of those borrowers either not yet in repayment or are past their statutory repayment date for mortgage style loan borrowers
Mortgage-style loan borrowers March 2008
Owing less than 2 months repayments [1] |
100 |
Owing 2 or more months repayments [1] |
1,500 |
Overdue with no repayment schedule owing less than £100 [1] |
100 |
Overdue with no repayment schedule owing £100 or more [1] |
3,000 |
Deferring repayments |
10,000 |
Deferring repayments with arrears |
400 |
Not yet repaying subtotal [2] |
15,100 (calculated on unrounded figures) |
Ahead with repayments |
2,300 |
Up to date with repayments |
5,600 |
[1] Borrowers classed as in arrears may have made repayments that did not bring their accounts up to date.
[2] Individual borrowers may be counted in more than one category if they have loan accounts in more than one status.