Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of cuts in Strategic Priorities Grant funding on (1) creative higher education, and (2) specialist institutions teaching creative higher education.

We recognise the important role creative and cultural subjects play in supporting jobs, growth and the UK's world-leading creative industries, and the unique role that specialist institutions have in ensuring a diverse higher education (HE) landscape that offers students choice. This is why we have increased tuition fees, and ensured that they will be aligned to inflation, helping maintain the long-term sustainability and quality of HE provision.

Funding allocations through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) are determined annually by the Office for Students (OfS), informed by a guidance letter issued by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. The guidance letter setting out the Secretary of State’s priorities for 2026/27 will be sent to the Office for Students in due course.

The Office for Students is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the sector’s financial sustainability, and we work closely with them to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.

Provider level allocations for the forthcoming academic year will be published by the OfS later this year.