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Sale of Student Loans Bill

Mischievous voices in the House are encouraging me to do things that you would not want me to do, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I will not allow them to have their way. It is important that the Minister assures the House that the sale of student loans will not be rushed to fill a hole in public finances. It is true that we have had some experience of that kind. Our fears are legitimised by those sorry experiences—those of the kind mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell). The Minister must also explain how the estimate of £6 billion has come about. With an estimated face value of £18.1 billion, what mechanisms were used to arrive at the estimated £6 billion, which is what the Government say is likely to be raised, for the sale of the loan book? What proportion of the asset do the Government estimate they will need to sell to raise £6 billion? What is the expected time scale for the sale of the loan book, and what are the notional volumes? The Minister said that the Government were likely to sell the loan book off in parts, but he gave us no feel for what estimate had been made of the timetable for that or the size of the parts. Again, one appreciates that there are commercial necessities in this regard, but the House deserves a little more information than we have had thus far. As the right hon. Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) suggested, it is also important that the House and the wider public are absolutely assured about any possible impact on students. The Minister has been helpful in that regard, both privately in briefings and today in the House. However, let us be frank: there will be fears and worries about this matter among existing students, potential students, families and so on. Anything that disincentivises people who have the capacity and potential to study at university or college needs to be countered. Those assurances will need to be made repeatedly during the passage of the Bill. The explanatory notes state:"““No aspect of this Bill will create a material impact on borrowers, higher education institutions or employers.””" As a result, no regulatory impact assessment has been prepared or published. However, clause 5(2), which covers repayments, states that"““regulations or arrangements may provide for…collection by a person acting on behalf of a loan purchaser””." Will the Minister clarify whether there is any intention to involve anyone else, besides the Student Loans Company, in the collection of repayments? If there is not, I am not entirely clear why that provision has been included. It would also be useful if the Minister told the House whether any assessment had been made of the likely purchaser of the loans. He made it clear that there is a market. He has also told the House this afternoon that the Government have taken expert advice on the subject, as one would expect. I would also expect him to give the House some feel for the sort of organisation that might purchase the book. Where are those organisations located? Are they overseas companies, international companies or domestic organisations? What is their track record? Who is likely to be involved? He does not have to stray into the area of commercial sensitivities, which would jeopardise the sale, to give us some reassurance about how he thinks things might work out.