Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 25 July 2022 to Question 37600 on Students: Finance, what progress her Department has made on delivering an Alternative Student Finance product compatible with Islamic finance principles.

The government is committed to delivering an Alternative Student Finance (ASF) product compatible with Islamic finance principles as soon as possible. To support the delivery of an ASF product to date, the government has taken new powers in the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 to enable the Secretary of State to provide alternative payments, in addition to grants and loans. We have further carried out work with specialist advisers, the Islamic Finance Council UK, on the design of an ASF model.

As set out in the answer of 25 July 2022 to Question 37600, the government is introducing the Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE), which will significantly change the ways students can access learning and financial support.

Work is underway to assess how we can ultimately deliver an ASF product alongside the LLE. We are procuring advice from experts in Islamic finance and will be working with the Student Loans Company to better understand timescales for delivery of an ASF product.

In our response to the LLE consultation, published on 7 March 2023, we set out our aim that students will be able to access an ASF as part of the LLE as soon as possible after 2025.