Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of extending eligibility for government-backed student finance to standalone commercial pilot training courses leading to Civil Aviation Authority commercial pilot qualifications; and what further estimate she has made of the resulting (a) annual student loan outlay, (b) long-term resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) cost and (c) number of additional students supported.

Student finance is designed to support higher education study leading to an academic award. Eligible students can apply for student finance for the academic elements of designated pilot training degree programmes.

Courses designated for student finance are set out in the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011. Generally, providers offering designated courses must be registered with the Office for Students (OfS) and, for most designated courses, hold degree-awarding powers.

There are no plans to extend student finance to cover standalone commercial pilot training courses that do not meet the standard eligibility criteria, so the department has not assessed the costs of doing so.