Further and Higher Education Students: Cost of Living

Seema Malhotra Excerpts

Tuesday 19th September 2023 Westminster Hall

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure, Sir George, to serve under your chairship today and to speak on behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western).

I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) on securing this extremely important debate, on all his campaigning on this issue and on his deep expertise in it, which has been of such value to the House. He has highlighted so many issues, as have other hon and right hon. Members, including the creaking nature of the student support system, the impact of increased hours of paid employment, impacts on life chances and wellbeing, and impacts on international students. I pay tribute to the work of the all-party parliamentary groups for students and on further education and lifelong learning. It is wonderful to see the chair of that APPG, the hon. Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous), here and to recognise the contribution that he has made.

We have had strong contributions, including from my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East (Mr Brown), the hon. Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) and Chair of the Education Committee, my hon. Friends the Members for Liverpool, West Derby (Ian Byrne), for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) and for Leeds North West (Alex Sobel), and the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). I also pay tribute to the work of the Sutton Trust, MillionPlus and other important research organisations. I note the vital role performed by universities and further education colleges in supporting students and their life chances, especially through this difficult time, as well as their key role in our education system and economy, and their support for businesses, our industrial strategy and our regional growth agendas across the country.

I am concerned that students have been an afterthought through the pandemic and then through the cost of living crisis. Inflation has skyrocketed into double digitals. The inflation rate for food items stands at 14.9%. We know that the causes of the cost of living crisis, while partly global, can be traced to choices that successive Conservative Governments have made that have reduced our resilience, and this is an important debate for us to continue to have. The situation is even more acute with our need as a nation to look at how we grow the economy and to ensure that we have opportunities at every stage.

A report released just last week by the Higher Education Policy Institute found that universities are being forced to take steps to support their students during the cost of living crisis that were previously unthinkable, whether that is having a food bank or recognising that many need food vouchers. It begs the question: which part of Britain is not broken? It is important to recognise that this impacts the ability of those institutions to support that transformational potential, which is their purpose of supporting students to take advantage of learning and improve their life chances. ONS research found that the cost of living crisis affects students’ academic performance, skills development, and health and wellbeing.

I will close with a few questions to the Minister, because he will see that the evidence clearly points to the negative impacts of the crisis on our students. The Conservative party should have solutions that are in line with, and part of, how we grow the economy, which is the first mission that we will have as a Labour Government. Has the Minister looked at which students are most impacted by the cost of living crisis? Will he take this opportunity to commit to an equality impact assessment of the impact of rising prices on students? What assessment has he made of the cost of living crisis on discouraging applications from students for certain courses, as has been raised by MillionPlus? How is he working with the FE and HE sectors on the challenges that they and their students are facing? I look forward to the Minister’s response.