Oral Answers to Questions

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Donelan]

Last week, I launched a pledge, working with the likes of Universities UK and Can’t Buy My Silence. It is very important that universities stop using non-disclosure agreements in respect of sexual assault, sexual abuse and harassment. They are morally inept and have no place on our campuses. I encourage every vice-chancellor to sign the pledge.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

3. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) student and (b) graduate finance in the context of the cost of living.

[Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)]

21. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) student and (b) graduate finance in the context of the cost of living.

[The Minister for Higher and Further Education (Michelle Donelan)]

We have frozen maximum tuition fees for the fifth year in succession, saving a typical full-time student finishing a course in the 2022-23 academic year over £3,000 in fee loans for the three-year degree. Maximum grants and loans have increased by 3.1% for the current academic year, with a further 2.3% increase announced for the next academic year.

[Marion Fellows]

As a result of their extremely high tuition fees—the highest in the world—English students leave university with three or four times the amount of debt that Scots do. Freezing the loan repayment threshold—along with the national insurance hike and the high, rising costs of food—significantly affects young graduates. Why are the Government failing to support students and graduates during this cost of living crisis?

[Michelle Donelan]

As I said, this will be the fifth year in succession that maximum fees have been frozen, saving a full-time student finishing a course over £3,000. With median non-graduate salaries at £25,000, it is right that we work to make the system sustainable and fair for the taxpayer, including those who do not choose to attend university, especially when only a quarter of those currently starting a course will actually fully repay their loan.