Student Loan Arrears

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0014450

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
http://www.dius.gov.uk/index.htm

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Dear Dr Hamer,
Thank you for your request for information which we received on 16^th
February 2009. I can confirm that we hold some information falling within
the terms of your request.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly, and in any case no
later than 20 working days after receiving your request. I am sorry that
this reply is 4 days overdue. However, when a qualified exemption applies
to the information and the public interest test is engaged, the Act allows
the time for response to be longer than 20 working days, and a full
response must be provided within such time as is reasonable in all
circumstances of the case. We do, of course, aim to make all decisions
within 20 working days, including cases where we need to consider the
public interest. In this case, however, we have not yet reached a decision
on where the balance of the public interest lies.

In your case we estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days
to take a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies.
Therefore, we plan to let you have a response by 14^th April. If it
appears that it will take longer than this to reach a conclusion, we will
keep you informed.

The specific exemption which may apply in relation to your request is
Section 35. This is because we are using some of the information you
require for current policy decisions.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to me quoting our reference number.

If you are not content with the outcome your complaint or review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our
complaints/review procedure.
Yours sincerely,

Karen Duncan
Student Finance Policy

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0014450.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Thank you for your recent email enquiry.

I can confirm this has been passed to our policy team.

Our reference 2009/0023972

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Dear Dr Hamer,

Thank you for your request for information which we received on 16^th
February 2009. I can confirm that we hold some information falling within
the terms of your request.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly, and in any case no
later than 20 working days after receiving your request. As you are aware.
we are considering the public interest and although we should be able to
send a full response shortly, we have not yet reached a decision on where
the balance of the public interest lies.

We estimate that it will take longer to take a decision on where the
balance of the public interest lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a
response by the end of April. If it appears that it will take longer than
this to reach a conclusion, we will keep you informed.

The specific exemption which may apply in relation to your request is
Section 35. This is because we are using some of the information you
require for current policy decisions.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to me quoting our reference number.

If you are not content with the outcome your complaint or review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our
complaints/review procedure.
Yours sincerely,

Karen Duncan
Student Finance Policy

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0014450.
Yours sincerely,

Karen Duncan
STUDENT FINANCE POLICY DIVISION
[email address]
[1]www.dius.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0014450.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

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1. http://www.dius.gov.uk/

Dear Dr Hamer,
I am writing to confirm that the Department has now completed its search
for the information which you requested on 15 February 2009. I apologise
that this reply is late.

The information you requested is shown below under each of your requests.

1. The table (in Nigel Evans PQ) identifies 200, 400 and 500 students in
arrears on income contingent loans over the last three years
respectively. How many borrowers have been traced and debts enforced
for each year over the same period? How many court judgements have
been made?

HMRC was selected to collect Income Contingent loan repayments through
the tax system as this offers a simple and effective way of reaching
most borrowers. For the majority, deductions are made from borrowers'
earnings on each pay day by their employer, according to their income,
along with tax and National Insurance contributions. This prevents
arrears from developing.

Where borrowers go overseas, alternative collection arrangements apply
to income contingent loans and borrowers make monthly loan repayments
to SLC directly. In those exceptional cases where Income Contingent
repayments are not made when due, the SLC has the power to take
borrowers to court for non payment. At present eight court proceedings
are in progress, a further action was raised but has since been
settled.

HMRC provides an address tracing service to SLC to help SLC maintain
up to date addresses for student loan borrowers who are in the UK.
Address details have been provided for 81,503 borrowers since the
service began in August 2007.

1. Please provide the same information for borrowers on mortgage-style
loans.

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Numbers | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
|------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------|
| Borrowers in arrears and repaying | 13,500 | 11,400 | 13,300 |
|------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------|
| Borrowers in arrears and not | | | |
| repaying | | | |
|------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------|
| In trace | 12,700 | 14,100 | 17,300 |
|------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------|
| In legal | 18,500 | 18,500 | 15,000 |
|------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------|
| With debt collection agency | 17,900 | 15,400 | 14,000 |
|------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------|
| Actively being pursued in-house | 23,200 | 24,400 | 22,300 |
|------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------|
| Total borrowers in arrears | 85,800 | 83,800 | 81,900 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+

Notes

Figures used are at end of March for each f/y

Figures are rounded to nearest 100

Figures are for English domiciled borrowers

1. How much is spent on tracing and enforcing debts each year, and how
many FTE staff are responsible solely for advancing this?

The Department does not hold this information.

1. What is the Department's forecast for the number of borrowers in
arrears in the future?

The Department does not hold this information.

The Student Loans Company may be able to provide you with the information
for q3 and q4 at:

Freedom of Information Office

The Student Loans Company

100 Bothwell Street

Glasgow

G2 7JD

[1][email address]

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If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote our reference number in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to me within two calendar months of the date of this
letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints/review
procedure.

Yours sincerely,

Kathryn Symms
STUDENT FINANCE POLICY DIVISION
[2][email address]
[3]www.dius.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0014450.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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References

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2. mailto:[email address]//omailto:[email address]
3. http://www.dius.gov.uk/

Dear Dr Hamer,
Thank you for your email dated 13 March 2009 about your FOI request.

In answer to your query, we were considering if the Section 35 exemption
might apply to Question 1 of your letter.

We have issued a response to your FOI request and the exemption has not
been used..
Yours sincerely,

Karen Duncan
STUDENT FINANCE POLICY DIVISION
[email address]
[1]www.dius.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0023972.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

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1. http://www.dius.gov.uk/

Dear Dr Hamer,
Thank you for your email dated 19 May 2009 requesting an internal review
of your FOI request on Student Loan Arrears.
The review is being arranged and we will contact you about the outcome as
soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,

Karen Duncan
STUDENT FINANCE POLICY DIVISION
[email address]
[1]www.dius.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0045365.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

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1. http://www.dius.gov.uk/

Dear Dr Hamer,
Thank you for your email of 19 May requesting a Freedom of Information Act
internal review, and your subsequent email dated 4 July on the same
subject.

In light of recent Departmental changes, the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS) has carried out a thorough review of the case
and has now completed the process. The review panel, chaired by a senior
officer who was not previously involved with the case, has considered the
facts surrounding your original request and the response from the
Department for Innovation Universities and Skills (DIUS).

The panel concluded that the original response was correct because the
information requested is not held by the Department. The Department does
not hold the information requested as it does not carry out the activity
of tracing and enforcing student loan debts.

In accordance with s.16 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (to provide
advice and guidance) and in the spirit of s. 21 (information reasonably
available elsewhere), our response of 5 May 2009 suggested that the
Student Loans Company (SLC) might hold some of this information. Whilst
the SLC undertakes this role, we cannot be certain that they record this
level of detail. I should also add that SLC employees are not civil
servants No civil servants in BIS (formally DIUS) are involved in this
work.

The Student Loans Company may be contacted at:

Freedom of Information Office
The Student Loans Company
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD

[1][email address]

If you are unhappy with this decision, you have the right to appeal
directly to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at:

The Case Reception Unit
Customer Service Team
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Further information about the Information Commissioner's complaints
procedure can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website:
[2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...
Yours sincerely,

Kathryn Symms
STUDENT FINANCE POLICY DIVISION
[3][email address]

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0045365.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]//omailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...
3. mailto:[email address]//omailto:[email address]