To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was paid in tuition fees by students in (a) Peterborough constituency and (b) Peterborough city council area in each year since fees were instituted. (77913)

Students on full-time undergraduate courses and their families are expected to make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition based on household income. Students from lower income backgrounds are wholly or partially exempt from paying tuition fees.

The amount of private contributions to tuition fees by students from Peterborough local authority in academic years 1999/2000 to 2003/04 are given in the table.

Data in the answer cover the period from 1999/2000 to 2003/04. Data for 2004/05 onwards are not available as student applications from Peterborough were processed by another local authority (Cambridgeshire), and can not be disaggregated.

Contributions towards tuition fees of up to £1,000 were introduced in academic year 1998/99 but, as that year was treated as a transitional year, data are not available on the same basis as subsequent years.

Academic years 1999/2000 and 2000/01 contain two and three cohorts respectively of students subject to the new student support scheme.