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Written Question
Students: Loans
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the maximum value of a student maintenance loan (a) was in 2018 and (b) is as of 4 March 2024; and if she will make an estimate of the real-term change in that value since 2018.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The maximum maintenance loan for an undergraduate student living away from parents outside London in the 2023/24 academic year is £9,978. The equivalent maximum maintenance loan was £8,430 in the 2017/18 academic year. This is a 13.9% reduction in the real-terms value of the maximum loan. This figure has been derived by using the Retail Price Index (RPIX) measure of inflation, applied at Quarter 1 in each academic year throughout this time period, as published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in November 2023, which can be found here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2023/.

The government has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs each year. Maximum support has been increased by 2.8% for the 2023/24 academic year with a further 2.5% increase announced for 2024/25.

The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that are impacting students. The department has already made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students including disadvantaged students.

The department is now making a further £10 million of one off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.

Over the period between 2022/23 to 2024/25, the government will have provided support worth £104 billion to help families throughout the UK with the cost of living including to meet increased household energy costs. This is an average of £3,700 per household. This will have eased some of the pressure on family budgets and so will in turn enable many families to provide additional support to their children in higher education to help them meet increased living costs.

The department has also frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years to deliver better value for students and to keep the cost of higher education under control. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.


Written Question
Overseas Students
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made with Cabinet colleagues on implementing the International Education Strategy, published on 16 March 2019.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department has been implementing a whole of government approach and working closely with Cabinet departments including the Department for Business and Trade, Home Office, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and other government departments to implement the International Education Strategy published on 16 March 2019. This includes ministerial and official attendance from across government at the Education Sector Advisory Group meetings, a valued forum that convenes three times per year and enables sector representatives to engage with the government to implement the strategy.

The department remains committed to the International Education Strategy and has published regular updates, most recently in May 2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-education-strategy-2023-update. This sets out progress to date, including total UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity estimated to be £25.6 billion in 2021 and meeting the international student ambition for both 2020/21 and 2021/22.


Written Question
Students: Energy
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of increases in energy prices on university students living in private rented accommodation.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2021/22 suggests that a third of students live in privately rented accommodation with friends. Over the period 2022/23 to 2024/25, the government will have provided support worth £104 billion to help families throughout the UK with the cost of living including to meet increased household energy costs. This will have eased the pressure on family budgets and so will in turn enabled many families to provide additional support to their children in higher education to help them meet increased living costs.

Students in private rented accommodation who are provided energy through a commercial entity may also benefit from the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS), which provides a baseline discount on energy bills for non-domestic users locked into high fixed price tariffs. Any non-domestic user who benefits from the EBDS must ensure the benefit is passed through to the end user, such as students in private rented accommodation.

More information on students’ expenditure on housing can be found in the 2021/22 Student Income and Expenditure Survey which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-income-and-expenditure-survey-2021-to-2022.


Written Question
Universities: Visits
Thursday 21st December 2023

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of universities the (a) Chairman and (b) Chief Executive of the Office for Students has visited since (i) 1 January 2018, (ii) 3 March 2023 and (iii) 5 September 2023.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department does not hold this information as visits to universities by the Chair and Chief Executive of the Office for Students are a matter for that organisation as an independent arms-length body.


Written Question
Education: Monitoring
Friday 8th December 2023

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department allocates (a) personnel and (b) financial resources to monitoring the political views of educationalists.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

As part of government business, the department works with a wide range of educationalists in order to inform effective policymaking. The department recognises it is important to listen to and consider a wide variety of views and perspectives.

The department does not allocate specific personnel or financial resources to monitor the political views of educationalists.

As is standard practice in most organisations, the department does carry out due diligence before engaging experts and speakers on a case-by-case basis.


Written Question
Office for Students
Tuesday 5th December 2023

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times she has met the Director of Free Speech of the Office for Students since his appointment.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Secretary of State met with Susan Lapworth, CEO of the Office for Students (OfS), and Lord Wharton, Chair of the OfS on 25 January 2023.

In my capacity as the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, I have also met with the CEO once, and Chair of the OfS twice, in 2023. My noble friend Baroness Barran has also met with the CEO once.

My Right hon. Friend, The Secretary of State for Education has not met with Arif Ahmed, Director of Free Speech and Academic Freedom of the OfS, since his appointment in June 2023. The Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP, the previous Minister responsible for freedom of speech in the department, met with Arif Ahmed once in 2023 following his appointment.


Written Question
Overseas Students: Admissions
Tuesday 5th December 2023

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many international students withdrew their application to study at universities before enrolment in 2023.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department does not hold data on the number of international students who withdrew their application to study at universities in 2023.


Written Question
Students: Working Hours
Tuesday 5th December 2023

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the average number of hours worked by students who have jobs.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Student Income and Expenditure Survey publishes data on students’ working patterns. The survey for the 2021/22 academic year asked students who were in work to state how many hours they had worked in the week prior to completing the survey. The average (mean) number of hours worked in this reference week by full-time students was 12, while the median was lower, at 8. The average (mean) number of hours worked in the previous week by part-time students was 32 while the median was higher, at 37 hours.

This published data also showed that full-time students who are in employment tend to work tend to work more hours during the summer vacation compared to term time.

The Student Income and Expenditure Survey for the 2021/22 academic year can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-income-and-expenditure-survey-2021-to-2022.


Written Question
Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education
Tuesday 5th December 2023

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times she has met the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education in 2023.

Answered by Robert Halfon

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has not met the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) in 2023. However, departmental officials meet staff from the OIA on a regular basis.


Written Question
Students: Employment
Tuesday 5th December 2023

Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of how many students work more than one job.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Student Income and Expenditure Survey for the 2021/22 academic year provides data on students’ working patterns, including, for example, average hours worked and average hours worked during term time and vacations. However, the survey report does not cover the number of jobs students may have. The 2021/22 Student Income and Expenditure Survey can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-income-and-expenditure-survey-2021-to-2022.