Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the rates of interest charged on student loans to ensure they properly reflect the Bank of England interest rate.

The system for setting interest rates on student loans is set out in The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009, as amended. The Department for Education sets the interest rate as instructed by the regulations.

For post-2012 student loans, the department regularly monitors the interest rates set on student loans against the interest rates prevailing on the market. The most appropriate comparators for undergraduate student loans are the effective interest rates available on unsecured personal loans, as published by the Bank of England (data series CFMBJ77 and CFMBJ94). Both rates continue to be above the maximum interest rate charged on student loans.