Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to incentivise universities to attract more students to take courses in areas which are identified as having a skills shortage.

We want everyone with the potential to benefit from higher education to be able to do so. We will provide student finance for those studying part-time for a second degree in any Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subject. We also announced in the Autumn Statement of 2015 that we are introducing new part-time maintenance loans from the academic year 2018/19, in order to support the cost of living while studying on part-time courses.

To promote retraining and prepare people for the future labour market, we are also reviewing any further gaps in support for lifetime learning, including for flexible and part-time study. We are also supporting growth in degree apprenticeships and have made a £10m Development Fund available to help universities and partners, including further education colleges, to help higher education providers to meet employer demand.