To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what percentage of university students had not received payments due to them from Student Finance England before the start of the academic year 2009-10; what average length of time elapsed from the start of the academic year until receipt of payments for such students; and if he will make a statement. (293048)

Payments of maintenance grant and loan to higher education students are not made until they have registered on their course and the higher education institution has told the Student Loans Company. Registrations take place throughout September and October.

The Student Loans Company will shortly release figures to show the levels of processing and payment of student support in England for the 2009/10 academic year.

The releases will include the following information:

Total applications received

Applications approved

Applications currently being processed

Ineligible/withdrawn applications

Applications started online but not completed

Further information required from student/sponsors

Students receiving first maintenance payment.

The first release of this information will be on 27 October 2009, and this will cover the processing and payment up to and including 18 October. This will be followed by a further two updates at weekly intervals. The information will be made available on the Student Loans Company website.

All eligible students who applied by the deadline had payments approved; some were interim payments. Those who have received an interim payment, but have provided the correct evidence by the end of August, will receive any additional payments they are entitled to by the end of October.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of students studying for higher education qualifications concerning (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) biology and (d) media studies. (296539)

The latest figures for postgraduate and undergraduate enrolments in physics, chemistry, biology and media studies are shown in the table.

Figures for the 2008-09 academic year will be available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency in January 2010.