Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 135391, how many non-medical help providers have had (a) no payments, (b) fewer than five payments and (c) fewer than 10 payments since the introduction of the Disabled Students Allowance Quality Assurance Group list in April 2016.

Student Loans Company (SLC), which administers Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), pays for the provision of support or equipment provided to students. It does so on receipt of an invoice from the supplier, and payments are made direct to providers on behalf of students.

DSAs are allocated on a student-by-student basis, and although SLC maintains records of payments made to non-medical help providers this is a predominantly manual system. The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.