Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they provide outside term-time to full-time higher education students who are care leavers without a permanent home, particularly over the Christmas holiday period.

As autonomous and independent organisations, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) determine what support services they provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body. The government places a high priority on how the particular needs of care leavers are addressed by HEIs. Many already provide all-year-round accommodation and bursaries for care leaver students. The Department for Education’s Guidance to the Office for Students (OfS), on completing 2019/20 access and participation plans, specifically identifies care leavers as a key target group whose needs HEIs should address. This is reflected in the OfS own guidance to the sector.

The government recently launched the Care Leaver Covenant, which provides a way for organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors – including universities – to set out and publicise what support they provide to care leavers. A number of universities have already signed the Covenant, including Leeds, Liverpool John Moores, Huddersfield and Bradford; and we will continue to work closely with the OfS to encourage all universities to sign it.