Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding his Department has allocated to encourage students from low-income backgrounds to access higher education in each of the next five years.

More young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are applying to higher education than ever before. 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas were 72% more likely to apply to higher education in 2015 than in 2006.

Since 2012, institutions have been required to take more responsibility for widening participation. Institutions wishing to charge fees above the basic rate must have Access Agreements agreed by independent Director of Fair Access. The amounts institutions expect to spend on widening access through these agreements are as follows:

In addition, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates funding to institutions to help with the additional costs of recruiting and supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds through the Student Opportunity Allocation. In 2015/16, HEFCE is allocating £364.2m to institutions through the Allocation. In recent grant letters, Ministers have asked HEFCE to prioritise widening participation in their decisions about allocating funding from their block grant.

Through the Student Opportunity Allocation, the Government has provided £22 million seed-corn funding for the establishment of national networks of collaborative outreach, across 2014-15 and 2015-16. The networks bring together universities to provide a single point of contact for schools and colleges to find out about outreach opportunities for their students and to access information about higher education. There are 35 local and three national networks involving 200 universities and further education colleges. They are reaching 4,300 secondary schools and colleges. From 2016 onwards, funding will be provided by universities themselves.