---

Sale of Student Loans Bill

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, but I am not sure whether it clarifies the purpose of his amendment. As a business man, I am sure that he relied on the advice of both lawyers and accountants to achieve good value for his business. I hope that we shall get some clarification as to the purpose of the amendment. Is it to prevent sales of the loan book offshore? I am not sure that I agree with that or that I see the dangers implied, although I had some sympathy with the statement that there may be data protection issues for graduates if the loan were broken up. On the other hand, as long as the conduit for their payments and for advice and correspondence remained the Student Loans Company, which was the subject of amendment No. 7, that protection might remain in place. Earlier, the Minister said that that was the case, and I assume that is why amendment No. 7 was not pressed to a Division. Again, clarification would be welcome.