(1)With regard to the funding by the Government of the 2017 university fee increase of 8% for missing middle students who do not qualify for National Student Financial Aid Scheme, (a) what is the total number of students who (i) have been funded to date and (ii) are still expected to be allocated funding, (b) what procedure did students follow to apply for the funding and (c) what is the total amount of the specified funding that has been paid out to universities where the students have been accepted;
(2) whether the entity that was managing the applications for State funding is a private contractor; if not, why not; if so, (a) was a tender advertised for the contract, (b) what were the costs of the contract and (c) for what period was the contract undertaken?