(2) how many income-assessed non-repayable student bursaries were administered by the Student Loans Company on behalf of higher education institutions in each year since 2001.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) have offered a bursary payment and administration service on behalf of individual higher education institutions since academic year 2006/07. The value and number of bursaries administered by SLC to date are as follows.
Value/Number Value of 2006/07 bursaries paid to date by SLC on behalf HEIs1 (£ million) 44.672 Number of 2006/07 bursaries paid to date by SLC on behalf HEIs1 75,523 1Figures relate to HEIs in England and Northern Ireland are correct as at 11 April 2007
It should be noted that these figures only represent a part-academic year, and cover only HEIs that have opted to use the SLC’s full bursary payment and administration service.
The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is responsible for the annual monitoring of access agreements from academic year 2006/07 and will report on the outcome in autumn/winter 2007.
We are aware that following the introduction of access agreements in 2006, higher education institutions have budgeted to spend in excess of £300 million on bursaries and scholarships benefiting students from low-income backgrounds and other underrepresented groups by 2010-11.