Moved by
Baroness Garden of Frognal
444: After Clause 82, insert the following new Clause—
“Student support: requirement to assess repayment terms
(1) The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 22 (new arrangements for giving financial support to students)—
(a) in subsection (3)(b), after “and” insert “, subject to subsection (3A)”;
(b) after subsection (3) insert—
“(3A) Regulations under subsection (3)(b) must include a level of earnings below which a person shall not be required to make repayments of such a loan.”
(3) After section 22 insert –
“22A Duty to assess consumer prices in determining terms for loan repayments
(1) In relation to regulations made subject to the requirement in section 22(3A), the Secretary of State must, for each tax year, review UK consumer price inflation for the period since the last review under this subsection.
(2) If the review concludes that consumer prices for the previous tax year have increased, the Secretary of State must, by regulations under section 22(3)(b), amend the level of earnings specified in accordance with the requirement in section 22(3A) by the same percentage increase as UK consumer price inflation as determined under subsection (1).
(3) If the Secretary of State is not required to make regulations under this section, the Secretary of State shall lay before each House of Parliament a report explaining the reasons for arriving at that determination.
(4) For the purpose of this section—
“consumer prices” means the Consumer Price Index;
“consumer price inflation” refers to the annual assessment made by the Office for National Statistics’ Consumer Price Inflation Statistical Bulletin.””