Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support small and specialist universities who receive a high proportion of their total income from charitable sources and operate at a deficit due to low levels of cost recovery on that income.

Higher education (HE) providers are independent from government and are responsible for ensuring their business models provide long-term sustainability.

The Office for Students (OfS) has statutory duties regarding the sector's financial sustainability, but the department has a clear interest in understanding the sector's level of risk. We work closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.

This government is committed to creating a secure future for our world leading HE sector, demonstrated by our decision to increase tuition fee caps in line with forecast inflation and our refocusing of the OfS on monitoring the sector’s financial health.

Moreover, the government provides annual funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), supporting the teaching of high-cost subjects such as science and promotes access and participation for students from under-represented groups. For 2025-26, the recurrent SPG allocation for world-leading small and specialist providers will be maintained at £57.4 million.