44.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the administration of the student loans scheme.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Dumbarton (Mr. McFall).
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much he estimates will be raised in total from student loans in the first full year of their operation.
If 80 per cent. of students take up their maximum entitlement to loans, £178 million will be made available in the academic year 1990–91. Borrowers will not be liable to repay their loans until the April after they leave their course. The first graduates are therefore not expected to start repaying until April 1992. Estimates of the long-term cost and savings were announced on 18 December 1989, Official Report, columns 36–40.