Asked by: Cherilyn Mackrory (Conservative - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on the finances of students.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Decisions on student support are taken on an annual basis. The department recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that have impacted students. Many higer education (HE) providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance. There is £261 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. The department has worked with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students in hardship, using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.
In addition, all households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12th October 2022 includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.
The department has continued to increase living costs support with a 2.3% increase for maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2022/23 academic year. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the 2022/23 tax year has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.
In addition, maximum tuition fees, and the subsidised loans available to pay them, remain at £9,250 for the 2022/23 academic year in respect of standard full-time courses.
The department is also freezing maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years. As well as reducing debt levels for students, the continued fee freeze will help to ensure that the HE system remains sustainable, while also promoting greater efficiency at providers.
The department is reviewing options for uprating maximum loans and grants for the 2023/24 academic year, and an announcement will follow in the autumn. We need to ensure the HE student finance system remains financially sustainable, and the costs of HE are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university. At a time of tight fiscal restrictions we will need to consider spending on student finance alongside other priorities.
Asked by: Cherilyn Mackrory (Conservative - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional mental health support for university students on placement years.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and have a responsibility to ensure students are well supported during their studies, so they can fully participate in their university experience and achieve outcomes to progress to quality employment. HE providers are not only experts in their student population, but are also best placed to identify the needs of their students, including students undertaking placements as part of their studies.
The mental health and wellbeing of young people is a priority for the government. We continue to work closely with the higher education (HE) sector to promote and fund effective practice. Through strategic guidance to the Office for Students (OfS), we asked that it distributes £15 million of funding in FY the 2022/23 financial year to give additional support for transitions from school/college to university, and through targeting funding to support partnership working with NHS services to provide pathways of care for students. The OfS funded Student Space, which provides a dedicated online platform for students providing vital mental health and wellbeing, and resources and is leading work to establish and share ‘what works’ across the sector.
The University Mental Health Charter, led by Student Minds and backed by the government, brings together universities to drive up standards of practice in mental health provision across the HE sector. The Charter identifies support for students on placements as a principle of good practice, encouraging HE providers to ensure targeted support for students on placement and on professional programmes, who may require more in-depth preparation and specific interventions. I have made clear my ambition for all HE providers to sign up to the Charter programme within 5 years.
Preventing suicide and self-harm in our student population continues to be a key concern, including through supporting the suicide safer universities framework led by Universities UK (UUK) and Papyrus. UUK have worked with stakeholders to develop a checklist which ensures better coordination of support between HE providers and placement providers, including mental health quality assurance of placements. This is due to be published in late July.
The OfS will allocate up to £3 million of funding towards developing stronger partnership working with NHS services. Alongside my hon Friend, the member for Chichester, I chaired a summit in June to launch this work and ensure that the department and the Department of Health and Social Care work together to achieve this common goal.