Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the 16-19 Bursary Fund for the 2020-21 school year (a) nationally and (b) in areas particularly financially affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

We are very grateful for all the work 16-19 providers are doing to support students through the COVID-19 outbreak. We are also keenly aware of the pressures being faced by those providers and the financial difficulties that some students have.

Last year we enabled providers to apply for additional Bursary Fund to help them meet the cost of devices and connectivity, and this year we have announced that 16-19 providers can apply for an allocation of devices from our Get Help with Technology scheme.

We continue to keep the Bursary Fund situation under review, including gathering evidence, with a view to considering what more we can do to support students and providers through this difficult time.