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Sale of Student Loans Bill

I am grateful to the Minister for her response. I see that gremlins have got into the amendments. I confess that I did not check it on the Marshalled List, but the amendment that I had proposed refers to: "““Page 3, line 18 ““transfer arrangements shall””." That picks up the point that the Minister answered in relation to the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Verma. I note that her amendment relates to line 20, so refers to subsection (5)(b) and (c) and not to paragraph (a), whereas my amendment related to paragraphs (a), (b) and (c). I am grateful to the Minister for replying to the amendment as put down in the Marshalled List. I conceived a more or less nonsense amendment, and I apologise for wasting her time. These issues of onward transfer are difficult. I take the Minister’s point entirely that it is an unlikely event but that the Government have to provide for it. If the loan portfolio or special-purchase vehicle were to be bought up by an overseas body would that be a bad thing or not? It is very difficult to tell. Many of these Middle Eastern states—and China, for that matter—are running large investment organisations. In many senses it would seem not ideal that it should be held by them, but in the modern global village in which we live it could well be. I shall look with interest at what the Minister said. I shall consider whether it is worth bringing back the amendment that I meant to table.