Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with her counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the potential merits of providing additional financial support for (a) school and (b) higher education students in the context of increases in the cost of living.

Last month, I met representatives from across the UK where we discussed this very topic. In England, we have put in place a significant amount of support to help students and families alike with the cost of living. This year alone, this government will spend around £37bn on cost of living support.

I take my role of giving children the very best start in life incredibly seriously. This Government spends more than £1 billion annually delivering free school meals to pupils in schools. More than one third of pupils in schools in England now receive a free meal. We have expanded the Holiday Activities and Food programme so that disadvantaged children in England will be offered free healthy meals and enriching activities over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. This expansion was built on previous programmes, including last summer’s, which supported around 600,000 children across 152 local authorities.

I also recognise the cost-of-living pressures that have impacted students. That is why we have earmarked £276 million of student premium funding this year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. We have continued to increase living costs support each year for English-domiciled students with a 2.3% increase to maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for this academic year, and a 2.8% increase for the 2023/24 academic year.

In addition, we have frozen maximum tuition fees for the current academic year and also for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years. We believe that a continued fee freeze achieves the best balance between ensuring the system remains sustainable, offering good value for the taxpayer, and reducing debt levels for students.

As well as keeping tuition fees flat, we have introduced and boosted degree apprenticeships, where, if people want to earn and learn, they can get their degrees paid for by their apprenticeship.