MP calls for legislative change to track delinquent borrowers

Member of Parliament for Central Kingston, Ronald Thwaites is calling for legislative changes to help in tracking delinquent recipients of students’ loans from the state.



The legislative changes would authorise the sharing of relevant information between government agencies.



A unit of the Cabinet Office is seeking to recover more than $100,000,000 million in outstanding loans, from delinquent beneficiaries under a student loan programme for public sector workers.



The committee was told that the Cabinet Office was having great difficulty tracking down the delinquents, because many of them have left the public sector.



Mr. Gallimore suggested that they could be tracked using their statutory deductions.



PAC Chairman, Dr. Omar Davies said this could not be easily done because there are prohibitions against sharing such information even between government departments.



The Committee is to examine whether the legislative changes suggested by Mr. Thwaites can be pursued.