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Sale of Students Loans Bill

moved Amendment No. 1: 1: Clause 1, page 2, line 11, at end insert— ““(6A) The Secretary of State shall take reasonable steps to notify the borrower within three months of transfer arrangements taking effect.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in Grand Committee, I undertook to consider the notification of sales to borrowers in response to an amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp. As I stated at the time, it has always been our clear intention to let borrowers know when their loans are sold. Having reflected on the argument that it would be better to strengthen that intention into an obligation, we propose Amendment No. 1. The Secretary of State would have to take reasonable steps to let all affected borrowers know that their loans have been sold within three months of the transaction. We also want to make sure that this obligation applies to any onward sales. As noble Lords may recall from previous stages, the Government think it unlikely that the legal title of the loans will be sold on after the initial sale we expect to make to the special purpose vehicle. But, if that were to happen, Amendment No. 4, which is consequential on Amendment No. 1, would ensure that the initial loan purchaser would have to take reasonable steps to let borrowers know that their loan had been sold on. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, for her helpful prompting. I beg to move.