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Sale of Student Loans Bill

I thank the Minister for that clarification. She is of course correct. The useful note to the Bill lists the four main functions of the Student Loans Company. The first two are: delivering financial support to eligible students and paying to the higher education institutions the public contribution towards tuition fees. Its third function is significant: supplying information needed by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure repayments are collected on time from all those due to repay under the income-contingent repayment loans scheme. The final function is managing the direct collection of repayments for loans granted under the former mortgage-style loan scheme. It is clear that there will be exchange of information between the Student Loans Company and HMRC, and between those two organisations and the actual purchaser. The actual purchaser will have the right to personal information. The Data Protection Act comes into play, but it was under the security of that that the CD-ROM containing data was sent by HMRC. I concede that one cannot allow for public servants not adhering to regulations, which is why it perhaps would have been useful to reinforce the obligation in the Bill. There is no point in pursuing the amendment. It is sensible to withdraw it.