Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to take steps to adjust maintenance fees for students in line with inflation.

We have 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 (HE) under control. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.

The government is considering options for maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2024/25 academic year and will be making an announcement in due course.

Decisions on student finance have been taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of HE is shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.

The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that are impacting students. For the 2023/24 academic year we have made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available to support successful outcomes for students including disadvantaged students. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.