Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his department will work with the Department for Education to legislate to allow prisoners to obtain a student loan more than 6 years from their earliest release date.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to enabling prisoners to access higher education while in custody and, alongside HMPPS, works with partners such as the Prisoners Education Trust and the Open University to widen access to higher education for prisoners.

The Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education will continue to consider access to student finance for prisoners.