Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Sollom Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Ian Sollom (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

We found out last week that the international student levy will raise £445 million from our universities, but only 1% of that will go to the maintenance grants that Ministers have claimed to justify this damaging tax on our universities. Worse still, the flat fee design hits hardest the universities doing the most to serve students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Can the Secretary of State tell us whether more or fewer disadvantaged students will access university as a result of this policy?

[Bridget Phillipson]

We are investing the international student levy into support around skills and access to high-quality further and higher education colleges targeted at students who most need that support in subjects most closely aligned to our industrial strategy and Government priorities. That will make a huge difference to young people from not very well-off backgrounds, allowing them to access university. We are backing our universities with the measures that we have set out on tuition fee increases, which will give our institutions stability.