Students: Loans

Mr. Willetts
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many and what proportion of applications for support from the Student Loans Company for 2009-10 have been processed;

(2) how many applications for maintenance support had been made to the Student Loans Company before the start of the 2009-10 academic year; and how many such applicants have been granted (a) no more than and (b) more than the minimum level;

(3) how many applications (a) to the Student Loans Company for financial support and (b) to higher education institutions to follow courses there were for the academic year (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lammy
The Student Loans Company has released 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Ineligible/withdrawn applications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 was on Tuesday 27 October 2009, and this covered the processing and payment up to and including 18 October 2009. This will be followed by a further two updates at weekly intervals. The information is being made available on the Student Loans Company website.

According to information from UCAS, in 2008/09, the number of English-domiciled accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses in England was 330,400. The equivalent final figure for 2009/10 is not yet available, but by 14 October 2009 the total had reached 344,508.