Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of limits on the number of English students who can attend Scottish universities from 2020 on the higher education sector.

Student number controls for English-domiciled students in Scotland are a direct response to the financial threat posed by the COVID-19 outbreak and they form a key part of the package of measures to stabilise the admissions system.

These controls are a temporary measure and will be in place for one academic year only. Student number controls for institutions in Scotland only apply to the number of English-domiciled entrants who will be supported with their tuition fees through the Student Loans Company. They are set at a level which will allow every institution to take more first year English students than they took last year. The funding of English-domiciled students is not a devolved matter, and it is right and fair that this policy should apply as consistently as possible wherever they are studying in the UK.

Ministers will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations on strengthening and stabilising the higher education system following the COVID-19 outbreak.