Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is his Department taking to increase student accommodation on campus for universities located in rural areas.

Higher education providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government; government plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body.

The Unistats website provides information about all university courses and includes links to individual websites with details of the student accommodation available at a higher education provider.

I recently called on rogue private landlords to stop exploiting students and face justice when they are failing tenants – especially when they leave students living in squalid conditions. New milestone regulations came into force on 20 March, which give students and renters across the country greater protections and rights if there are serious defects in accommodation.