Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels of (a) graduate debt and (b) recent media reports on levels of children from low-income households choosing to study at university.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to addressing the persistent disadvantage gap in access to higher education (HE) and we are encouraged by the fact that disadvantaged young people continue to choose this pathway.
We are introducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from the 2028/29 academic year. These will be paid on top of existing loan amounts, increasing the cash in students’ pockets without increasing their debt.
Repayments are based on income, not loan amount or interest. Borrowers earning below the earnings threshold make no repayments. Any outstanding loan, including interest, is cancelled at the end of the term, with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed to family members or descendants.
HE providers intending to charge higher level tuition fees must have an Office for Students approved access and participation plan articulating how they will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups, including students from low-income backgrounds.
We have gone further and asked Professor Kathryn Mitchell to lead an HE Access and Participation Task and Finish Group to consider how to tackle systemic barriers across the journey into HE for disadvantaged students.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that students from low-income households are encouraged to consider university education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to addressing the persistent disadvantage gap in access to higher education (HE) and we are encouraged by the fact that disadvantaged young people continue to choose this pathway.
We are introducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from the 2028/29 academic year. These will be paid on top of existing loan amounts, increasing the cash in students’ pockets without increasing their debt.
Repayments are based on income, not loan amount or interest. Borrowers earning below the earnings threshold make no repayments. Any outstanding loan, including interest, is cancelled at the end of the term, with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed to family members or descendants.
HE providers intending to charge higher level tuition fees must have an Office for Students approved access and participation plan articulating how they will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups, including students from low-income backgrounds.
We have gone further and asked Professor Kathryn Mitchell to lead an HE Access and Participation Task and Finish Group to consider how to tackle systemic barriers across the journey into HE for disadvantaged students.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the value of interest repayments on Plan 2 student loans net of (a) the Government’s cost of financing student loan outlay, (b) expected write-offs and (c) administrative costs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Repayments made against accrued interest are not separated from repayments made against the borrowed portion of the loan.
The department publishes an estimate of the subsidy portion of student loan outlay in the form of the Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge. The RAB charge for Plan 2 outlay in England in 2024/25 was 32%.
The RAB charge is calculated as the present value of student loan outlay less expected future repayments, discounted by inflation plus the financial instrument discount rate. Expectations of interest, write offs and the government’s borrowing costs are factored into the fair value of student loans on issuance. In valuing the loan book at financial year end, estimated operational costs of servicing student loans are accounted for, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. Higher interest relative to inflation reduces the forecasted cost of the loan system due to increased future repayments.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of Plan 2 student loan borrowers have repaid in real terms more than (a) 100 per cent, (b) 120 per cent and (c) 150 per cent of the amount originally borrowed; and how many of those borrowers have (i) an outstanding balance and (ii) fully repaid their loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data that allows us to provide the proportion of the amount originally borrowed that has been repaid in real terms.
The projected percentage of Plan 2 student borrowers in 2022 who are expected to fully repay their loan in real terms is available at:
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what was the funding per student in English further education colleges in 2010, 2024 and 2025-26.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below uses the published 16 to 19 funding allocations to derive the average total programme funding per student in general further education (FE) colleges, for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years. The figures are not available for 2010 to 2011.
Average funding per student in general FE colleges | |
2024/25 | £6,753 |
2025/26 | £7,419 |
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to Part 2 student loan repayments and the freezing of interest thresholds on [a] women and [b] students with disabilities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We inherited a Plan 2 loan system that was devised and implemented by the previous government, and there have not been retrospective changes to repayments. Students sign the terms and conditions of the student loan plan type available at the time of their studies before any money is paid to them. Student loan terms and conditions make clear that the conditions of the loan may change in line with the regulations that govern the loans.
There has also been no freezing of interest rate threshold. Interest accrues on loan balances at a rate of Retail Price Index (RPI) to RPI+3% until the loan has been repaid in full or is cancelled. Borrowers on Plan 2 terms have interest applied at RPI only if earnings fall below the repayment threshold and interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by borrowers.
If a borrower becomes disabled and permanently unfit for work, loan balances, including interest, may be written off. For all borrowers, any outstanding loan, including interest accrued, will be cancelled after the loan term ends, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a review of student and graduate opinion about the retrospective nature of changes to Part 2 student loan repayments and the freezing of interest thresholds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We inherited a Plan 2 loan system that was devised and implemented by the previous government, and there have not been retrospective changes to repayments. Students sign the terms and conditions of the student loan plan type available at the time of their studies before any money is paid to them. Student loan terms and conditions make clear that the conditions of the loan may change in line with the regulations that govern the loans.
There has also been no freezing of interest rate threshold. Interest accrues on loan balances at a rate of Retail Price Index (RPI) to RPI+3% until the loan has been repaid in full or is cancelled. Borrowers on Plan 2 terms have interest applied at RPI only if earnings fall below the repayment threshold and interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by borrowers.
If a borrower becomes disabled and permanently unfit for work, loan balances, including interest, may be written off. For all borrowers, any outstanding loan, including interest accrued, will be cancelled after the loan term ends, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.
Asked by: Sarah Russell (Labour - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made on the number of people with a Plan 3 student loan in England and Wales; and what is the total value of those loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of England‑domiciled borrowers with a Plan 3 student loan was 603,000, rounded to the nearest thousand, and the total value of those loans was £6.521 billion, rounded to the nearest million, as of 31 March 2025.
Education is a devolved matter, and the Welsh Government is responsible for providing equivalent figures for borrowers in Wales.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the further education funding model on workforce planning.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We use the 16 to 19 funding formula to calculate an allocation of funding to each institution, each academic year for 16-19-year-olds. We calculate the basic funding for institutions using lagged student volumes and funding rates, which depend on the size of their students’ study programmes or T Levels.
The department issues allocations to institutions each spring setting out how much 16 to 19 funding they will receive in the coming academic year, which can help with planning.
The Adult Skills Fund engages adults aged 19 and above and provides the skills and learning they need to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. The recent move of adult skills to the Department for Work and Pensions provides an opportunity to strengthen the bonds between the Adult Skills Fund and progression into the labour market and will help ensure that the skills and employment systems are more fully aligned.
Further education providers are able to use this funding to support workforce and other costs.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2024 to Question 15559, if she will set out what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a stepped repayment structure for Plan 2 student loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are determined that the higher education funding system should deliver for students, for our economy, and for universities.
The government keeps the student finance system under continuous review to ensure that it delivers good value for both students and taxpayers.