Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve access to GPs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are expanding capacity in general practices (GPs) which will help deliver more appointments to patients.
Since October 2024, we have funded primary care networks (PCNs) with an additional £160 million to recruit GPs through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. Additionally, the new Practice Level GP Reimbursement Scheme, backed by £292 million of ringfenced funding, will help practices hire additional GPs or fund additional sessions with existing GPs to strengthen capacity, access, and improve patient satisfaction, whilst also addressing GP unemployment and underemployment.
We now have the highest number of GPs since 2015. As of July 2024, there were 27,735 fully qualified full-time equivalent GPs, now there are 30,369, which is an extra 2,600 GPs. We delivered 15.8 million more appointments over the past year than in the previous year and we have asked practices to ensure that they see those who need a clinically urgent appointment on the same day.
As a result, patient experience is also improving. Nearly 77% of patients reporting ease of contact, up 16% since July 2024, and overall satisfaction is also improving.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the difference between the repayment threshold that will apply in 2029-30 under current policy and the threshold that would apply had it been uprated in line with average earnings from 2016.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The forecasted repayment threshold for Plan 2 can be found within the data published in the Student Loan Forecasts for England publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2025-26#content.
Under current policy, the Plan 2 repayment threshold is forecasted to be £29,385 in the 2029/30 financial year. This includes the impact of the Plan 2 threshold freeze from the 2027/28 financial year for three years.
The Plan 2 repayment threshold in the 2016/17 financial year was £21,000, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/previous-annual-repayment-thresholds. If the repayment threshold had been uprated in line with economy-wide average earnings from 2016, the Plan 2 repayment threshold would be £33,735 in the 2029/30 financial year. The forecasted average earnings used to uprate the threshold are from the 2026 Spring Statement Economic and Fiscal Outlook published by Office of Budget and Responsibility.
There would be a £4,350 difference if the Plan 2 repayment threshold had been uprated in line with average earnings from 2016. This difference reflects the difference in uprating mechanism, periods of threshold freezes and the one-off increase to the threshold in 2018.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of graduates with Plan 2 loans who are considering leaving the UK in order to reduce their total student loan repayments.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
When a borrower moves overseas to live or work, the obligation to repay a student loan within the terms and conditions they signed up to still remains. Where a borrower who has moved overseas chooses either not to engage with the Student Loans Company (SLC) or make repayments where their income is above the relevant threshold for that country, arrears will build up on the student loan account. The borrower will also be in breach of the terms and conditions of their student loan, with the arrears flagged to the SLC debt recovery team.
The SLC continue to target non-compliant overseas borrowers using the application of fraud detection and investigatory techniques. Where this fails, SLC work with a debt collection agency to target borrowers with arrears balances. Further action, including legal action, can also be taken to secure recovery.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment she has made of the UK's 9% student loan repayment rate against the income-contingent repayment rates applied in comparable systems, including Australia and New Zealand.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Each country has the opportunity to develop its own system of student loans, balancing the costs of that system in the way that best suit their priorities.
Overall, we consider that our student finance system should protect low and middle-earners, and balances the interests of graduates against those of taxpayers who help fund the system, including many lower earners who have never had the chance to attend university.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of above-inflation student loan interest rates on the incentive for high-earning graduates, including doctors, to remain resident in the UK for tax purposes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Plan 2 was designed and implemented by the previous government. Interest is applied at Retail Price Index (RPI) for borrowers whose earnings are below the repayment threshold, including those on statutory maternity leave. This means that the value of their outstanding loan will not increase in real terms.
Under this government, borrowers receiving Plan 5 student loans, accrue interest at RPI only, currently 4.1%, so graduates, including high-earners, will not repay more than they borrowed in real terms. Under all repayment plans, borrowers whose earnings fall below the repayment threshold are not required to make repayments.
Graduates only begin repaying once their earnings exceed the repayment threshold, paying 9% of income above that level. If earnings fall, such as when on statutory maternity leave, so do a borrowers repayments. Therefore, whilst interest accrues on loan balances until the loan has been repaid in full or cancelled, interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by borrowers.
For all borrowers, any outstanding loan, including interest accrued, will be cancelled after the loan term ends, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants. There are no commercial loans that offer this level of protection to borrowers.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of interest accruing during maternity leave and periods of part-time work on the loan balances of women graduates with Plan 2 loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Plan 2 was designed and implemented by the previous government. Interest is applied at Retail Price Index (RPI) for borrowers whose earnings are below the repayment threshold, including those on statutory maternity leave. This means that the value of their outstanding loan will not increase in real terms.
Under this government, borrowers receiving Plan 5 student loans, accrue interest at RPI only, currently 4.1%, so graduates, including high-earners, will not repay more than they borrowed in real terms. Under all repayment plans, borrowers whose earnings fall below the repayment threshold are not required to make repayments.
Graduates only begin repaying once their earnings exceed the repayment threshold, paying 9% of income above that level. If earnings fall, such as when on statutory maternity leave, so do a borrowers repayments. Therefore, whilst interest accrues on loan balances until the loan has been repaid in full or cancelled, interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by borrowers.
For all borrowers, any outstanding loan, including interest accrued, will be cancelled after the loan term ends, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants. There are no commercial loans that offer this level of protection to borrowers.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on public finances of capping interest on Plan 2 student loans at the rate of Consumer Price Index inflation, rather than the Retail Prices Index.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that the student finance system is not working as fairly or effectively as it should and we continue to look at financially sustainable ways to make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers.
We have already taken action by capping the maximum interest rates on plan 2 and plan 3 loans at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year. This protects borrowers from the risk of inflation shocks.
The Office for National Statistics has confirmed that it will bring the methods and data sources used to calculate owner occupiers’ housing costs into the retail prices index from February 2030. The government will continue to consider the appropriate treatment of inflation measures within the student finance system as part of its ongoing consideration of higher education funding and student support arrangements.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the Office for National Statistics' conclusion that the Retail Prices Index is not a reliable measure of inflation for the purposes of setting student loan interest rates.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that the student finance system is not working as fairly or effectively as it should and we continue to look at financially sustainable ways to make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers.
We have already taken action by capping the maximum interest rates on plan 2 and plan 3 loans at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year. This protects borrowers from the risk of inflation shocks.
The Office for National Statistics has confirmed that it will bring the methods and data sources used to calculate owner occupiers’ housing costs into the retail prices index from February 2030. The government will continue to consider the appropriate treatment of inflation measures within the student finance system as part of its ongoing consideration of higher education funding and student support arrangements.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to replace the Retail Prices Index with the Consumer Prices Index as the basis for calculating interest on Plan 2 student loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that the student finance system is not working as fairly or effectively as it should and we continue to look at financially sustainable ways to make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers.
We have already taken action by capping the maximum interest rates on plan 2 and plan 3 loans at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year. This protects borrowers from the risk of inflation shocks.
The Office for National Statistics has confirmed that it will bring the methods and data sources used to calculate owner occupiers’ housing costs into the retail prices index from February 2030. The government will continue to consider the appropriate treatment of inflation measures within the student finance system as part of its ongoing consideration of higher education funding and student support arrangements.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Institute for Fiscal Studies' estimate that raising the Plan 2 repayment threshold to £31,200 and indexing it to earnings would cost the Exchequer in the region of £3 billion for the 2022-23 cohort.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Institute for Fiscal Studies utilise a different model to calculate their estimates on student loan costs. This model is known to be substantially more optimistic about graduates' mid-career earnings than the department’s model.
It is important that we maintain a sustainable student finance system that is fair to taxpayers while continuing to support access to higher education for students from all backgrounds. To this end, the government keeps all aspects of the student finance system, including student loan repayment thresholds, under review.
Over time, this has led to reforms being made to student loan terms. Such reforms take into account factors such as macroeconomic conditions, demographic trends and the participation rate in higher education at the time.