Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will assess the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for students in vulnerable groups in the 16 to 19 bursary fund to include young carers.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The department is determined that all young carers get the support they need to succeed.
The department provides a range of financial support for students who need it to enable them to participate in further education. This includes free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education, such as travel, books, equipment and trips, plus support for childcare and residential costs where required.
In the 2023/24 academic year, over £160 million of bursary funding has been allocated to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with the costs of taking part in education. This is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for last year. The department also made available around £20 million each year specifically to support students in defined vulnerable groups, for example those in care, care leavers and those supporting themselves in receipt of certain social security funds or benefits.
Institutions decide which young people receive bursaries and determine the level of financial support they receive. Institutions develop their own eligibility criteria for access to the discretionary bursary fund, including setting a household income threshold appropriate to their area and must publish information on this for students.
The intention of the vulnerable group bursaries is to help young people who are in a particularly vulnerable situation and unlikely to be receiving financial assistance from parents or carers. These bursaries provide up to £1,200 to eligible young people to help meet the costs of participating in education that they would not otherwise be able to afford. Young people who are living at home and financially supported by parents or carers are not considered eligible to receive a vulnerable group bursary. Students who do not meet the criteria for bursaries for vulnerable groups may be eligible to apply for funding from the discretionary bursary fund and should approach their education institution for further advice.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2024 to Question 19150, which (a) loans and (b) grants young carers are entitled to.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The department provides a range of financial support for students who need it to enable them to participate in further education. This includes free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education, such as travel, books, equipment, and trips, plus support for childcare and residential costs where required.
Over £160 million of bursary funding has been allocated in the 2023/24 academic year to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with the costs of taking part in education, which is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for last year. The department has also made available £20 million each year specifically to support students in defined vulnerable groups, such as those in care, care leavers and those supporting themselves in receipt of certain social security funds or benefits.
Institutions decide which young people receive bursaries and determine the level of financial support they receive. They develop their own eligibility criteria for access to the discretionary bursary fund, including setting a household income threshold appropriate to their area, and must publish information on this for students.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support young carers in full-time education to access financial support.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The department is determined that all young carers get the support they need to succeed.
The department provides a range of financial support for students who need it to enable them to participate in further education. This includes free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education, such as travel, books, equipment and trips, plus support for childcare and residential costs where required.
In the 2023/24 academic year, over £160 million of bursary funding has been allocated to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with the costs of taking part in education. This is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for last year. The department also made available around £20 million each year specifically to support students in defined vulnerable groups, for example those in care, care leavers and those supporting themselves in receipt of certain social security funds or benefits.
Institutions decide which young people receive bursaries and determine the level of financial support they receive. Institutions develop their own eligibility criteria for access to the discretionary bursary fund, including setting a household income threshold appropriate to their area and must publish information on this for students.
The intention of the vulnerable group bursaries is to help young people who are in a particularly vulnerable situation and unlikely to be receiving financial assistance from parents or carers. These bursaries provide up to £1,200 to eligible young people to help meet the costs of participating in education that they would not otherwise be able to afford. Young people who are living at home and financially supported by parents or carers are not considered eligible to receive a vulnerable group bursary. Students who do not meet the criteria for bursaries for vulnerable groups may be eligible to apply for funding from the discretionary bursary fund and should approach their education institution for further advice.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 16899 on Overseas Students: Ukraine, whether Ukrainian students will be able to continue studying with home fee status if their leave to remain in the UK is transferred to international student status at the closure of the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Changes have been made to the Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations 2007 from the 2024/25 academic year so that, where a person’s Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme leave expires during their course and they are granted further leave to remain under one of the standard immigration routes, they will continue to be eligible to access home fee status in order to complete their studies.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15845, if she will issue guidance to (a) students granted leave under the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme and (b) education providers on the (i) intended residency and (ii) status of students on the new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme set to open in early 2025; and what the status of those people will be after the closure of that scheme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
I am pleased to confirm that the department will be making changes to the student finance regulations following the recent announcement on the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme. These will ensure that, from the 2024/25 academic year, students who are granted leave under this scheme will be able to access Higher Education (HE) student support, home fee status, Advanced Learner Loans and Further Education 19+ funding on the same basis as persons with leave under one of the existing Ukraine schemes.
Persons granted leave under this Scheme will continue to be eligible for student support and home fee status for as long as they continue to be granted further leave to remain in the UK.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether residents under the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme will be considered Home Students for the purposes of university and college fees and student finance.
Answered by Robert Halfon
I am pleased to confirm that the department will be making changes to the student finance regulations following the recent announcement on the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme. These will ensure that, from the 2024/25 academic year, students who are granted leave under this scheme will be able to access Higher Education (HE) student support, home fee status, Advanced Learner Loans and Further Education 19+ funding on the same basis as persons with leave under one of the existing Ukraine schemes.
Persons granted leave under this Scheme will continue to be eligible for student support and home fee status for as long as they continue to be granted further leave to remain in the UK.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of eligible two year olds received free funded early education in each year between 2019 and 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Data relating to government-funded early education and childcare is published in the annual ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ statistical release which is available on the GOV.UK website at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5.
The figures requested can be found at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/941bcc65-3f3a-4cc8-9712-08dc1cb7c782.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she will next review the repayment threshold for repayment of (a) student tuition fee loans and (b) student maintenance loans; and if she will carry out a public consultation on this review.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Higher Education policy, including student finance, is devolved and this answer relates to England only.
The student finance and funding system must provide value for money for all of society at a time of rising costs. It is important that a sustainable student finance system is in place that is fair to students and fair to taxpayers. The department has frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By the 2024/25 academic year, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven successive years.
The mechanism for setting repayment thresholds for student loans is set out and governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). This includes provision for annual adjustments, where applicable, which do not require public consultation. The repayment threshold is the same for both tuition fee and maintenance loans.
The department will continue to keep the terms of the student finance system under review to ensure that they keep delivering value for money for both students and taxpayers.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has carried out an equality impact assessment on the uprating of the student maintenance loan.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department publishes an equality impact assessment of changes to student support in England annually on GOV.UK.
For the current 2023/24 academic year, the equality impact assessment can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-student-finance-2023-to-2024-equality-analysis.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the level of student maintenance loans on the labour market.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has not made an assessment of the potential impact of the level of student maintenance loans on the labour market.