Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his immigration policies on universities.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they best serve the UK and reflect the public’s priorities. Impact assessments are produced and considered when developing Government policies.
We have been successful in delivering our International Education Strategy goal of hosting 600,000 students per year by 2030, earlier than planned, and expect universities to be able to adapt to policy change.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of interest rate charges on Government student loan financing, following research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies which showed that higher interest rates will add more than £10 billion per year to the cost of England’s student loan system.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Student loans are valued in the department’s annual accounts in line with the International Financial Reporting Standard 9 and set out in The Government Financial Reporting Manual which is attached.
Under which where future cash flows are discounted to measure the fair value of a financial asset, this should be done using the higher of the rate intrinsic to the financial instrument or the HMT discount rate. HMT set the discount rate annually based on a 10 year rolling average of gilt yields. For student loans the intrinsic rate would be the discount rate that gave a Resource Accounting Budget (RAB) or stock charge of 0%, so the HMT discount rate is used provided the RAB charge is greater than 0%. Should the HMT discount rate result in a RAB charge calculation giving a negative value then the intrinsic rate is used instead, meaning that that RAB charge will take a value of 0%.
The most recent forecasts for the student finance system can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2022-23.
The net present value of future repayments was calculated by discounting all future repayments at a rate of RPI -1.3% per year until the end of financial year 2029/30, and -0.2% per year from financial year 2030/31, to the same point in time as the loan outlay or loan balance. This is the discount rate for financial instruments set by HMT in 2022 and is intended to reflect of the cost of government borrowing. The most recent student loan forecasts using the 2023 discount rate set by HMT will be published at the end of June 2024.
The department has carefully assessed the impact of changes and published a full and comprehensive analysis in the Higher Education Reform and Consultation Document Equality Impact Assessment, which is attached.
The student loan repayment system under Plan 5 is progressive, with repayments being positively correlated with lifetime earnings. The highest earners make the largest individual contributions to the system overall, and the lowest earners are required to contribute the least.
Lower earners, whether male or female, are protected. If a borrower’s income is below the repayment threshold, they will not be required to make any repayments at all. At the end of the loan term, any outstanding loan debt, including interest accrued, will be written off at no detriment to the borrower. No commercial loans offer this level of protection.
The department will continue to keep the student finance system, including repayment terms, under review to ensure that it remains sustainable and delivers value for money for students and the taxpayer.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of changes to the student loan repayment system, introduced in August 2023, on female students.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Student loans are valued in the department’s annual accounts in line with the International Financial Reporting Standard 9 and set out in The Government Financial Reporting Manual which is attached.
Under which where future cash flows are discounted to measure the fair value of a financial asset, this should be done using the higher of the rate intrinsic to the financial instrument or the HMT discount rate. HMT set the discount rate annually based on a 10 year rolling average of gilt yields. For student loans the intrinsic rate would be the discount rate that gave a Resource Accounting Budget (RAB) or stock charge of 0%, so the HMT discount rate is used provided the RAB charge is greater than 0%. Should the HMT discount rate result in a RAB charge calculation giving a negative value then the intrinsic rate is used instead, meaning that that RAB charge will take a value of 0%.
The most recent forecasts for the student finance system can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2022-23.
The net present value of future repayments was calculated by discounting all future repayments at a rate of RPI -1.3% per year until the end of financial year 2029/30, and -0.2% per year from financial year 2030/31, to the same point in time as the loan outlay or loan balance. This is the discount rate for financial instruments set by HMT in 2022 and is intended to reflect of the cost of government borrowing. The most recent student loan forecasts using the 2023 discount rate set by HMT will be published at the end of June 2024.
The department has carefully assessed the impact of changes and published a full and comprehensive analysis in the Higher Education Reform and Consultation Document Equality Impact Assessment, which is attached.
The student loan repayment system under Plan 5 is progressive, with repayments being positively correlated with lifetime earnings. The highest earners make the largest individual contributions to the system overall, and the lowest earners are required to contribute the least.
Lower earners, whether male or female, are protected. If a borrower’s income is below the repayment threshold, they will not be required to make any repayments at all. At the end of the loan term, any outstanding loan debt, including interest accrued, will be written off at no detriment to the borrower. No commercial loans offer this level of protection.
The department will continue to keep the student finance system, including repayment terms, under review to ensure that it remains sustainable and delivers value for money for students and the taxpayer.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review their statistical methods regarding the inclusion of international students on postgraduate taught courses in net migration figures.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Right Hon. the Lord Johnson of Marylebone
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
19 April 2024
Dear Lord Johnson,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what plans there are to review the statistical methods regarding the inclusion of international students on postgraduate taught courses in net migration figures (HL3762).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing long-term international migration statistics. The most recent edition is for year-ending (YE) June 2023[1].
Net international migration accounts for a significant part of population change. Therefore, it is important that long-term international migration estimates account for those joining or leaving the UK population for all reasons, including international students (on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses). This ensures that the size of the population can be measured and the impact of migration on the economy and service requirements can be understood.
However, I recognise that there is also a user need for estimates of specific groups such as international students, as well as the need to understand the contribution of students to net international migration. Therefore, the latest long-term international migration estimates for YE June 2023 include breakdowns by reason for migration.
Alongside the latest estimates, the ONS also published an article named Reason for international migration: international students update: November 2023[2]. This presents further analysis of net migration of non-EU international students up to the YE June 2023 along with cohort analysis that provides insight on the changing behaviours of international students. This includes how long they spend studying in the UK before emigrating or, for example, transitioning onto work visas.
The ONS are continuing to develop their research in this area to provide more granular estimates, further insights on migration patterns of international students and identify priority areas for further research based on user priorities. Afurther update on this work will be published in May 2024, including estimates of international student migration for the YE December 2023.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Written Evidence Apr. 26 2024
Inquiry: Disability employmentFound: Charter and work towards delivering Article 27 of the UNCRPD, rather than continue to violate this international
Written Evidence Apr. 26 2024
Inquiry: Disability employmentFound: that all focus on getting people into any job as quickly as possible, which goes against the international
Written Evidence Apr. 26 2024
Inquiry: Disability employmentFound: where I work across both staff and student populations to ensure experiences as disabled workers/students
Written Evidence Apr. 26 2024
Inquiry: Disability employmentFound: We also know that the number of students with a known disability has increased and that that specific
Correspondence Apr. 26 2024
Committee: Liaison Committee (Lords)Found: that its objectives are met in a sustainable way means the UK continues to be at the forefront of international
Found: World Health Organization International . 6. European Commission (2023).