Owing to the failure of some students that benefitted from the Student Loans Scheme to repay their loans, last year taxpayers had to cough out £11.1 million to write off the debt.

This, according to reports, was the highest amount paid for unpaid student loans since the system was introduced 19 years ago.

The figures were made public this week in a written parliamentary answer by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

And they reveal that the number of loans which will go unpaid keep increasing each year.

In financial year to April 2007, it was further revealed, £6.9 million of public loan debt was written off.

The statistics suggest that £2.2 million was, on average, lost each year, since 1994.

“The steady rise in the amount of public loan debt written off each year reflects the growing maturity of the student loan book,” said the Minister for Higher Education David Lammy.

Backdated write-offs that were not processed until 2007 and 2008, explained the DIUS, also added to last year’s figures.