Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of the student loan system on the affordability of higher education for students from disadvantaged areas.

The Government publishes Equality Analyses setting out the impact of the annual changes to student finance on protected and disadvantaged groups of students.

The student finance system ensures upfront costs of tuition are not a barrier to accessing higher education. Eligible students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can apply for up-front fee loans to meet the full costs of their tuition.

Full-time students from disadvantaged backgrounds also have access to the highest ever amounts of cash in hand loan support for their living costs. Monthly loan repayments are linked to income, not to interest rates or the amount borrowed.

The current system has enabled record numbers of students to benefit from higher education with progress continuing to be made on widening participation. There are record numbers of people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university. Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data shows young people from the most disadvantaged areas were 43% more likely to enter higher education in 2016 than they were in 2009. Provisional 2017 data shows the entry rate for 18 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds is already at a record high this year, significantly higher than at the end of the 2016 cycle.