Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Baynes Excerpts

Monday 23rd May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

We will provide a further update on alternative student finance as part of our response to the LLE consultation, which closed earlier this month.

[Simon Baynes (Clwyd South) (Con)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to limit student loan interest payments.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi)]

Monthly student loan repayments are based on income, not interest rates, meaning that no one will see their monthly repayment increase due to interest rates. From September, we have reformed the student loan system so that new borrowers will not repay more in real terms than they originally borrowed—that is fair.

[Simon Baynes]

The level of student loan interest rates is of great importance to students, past and present, in my constituency, half of which is in the new city of Wrexham. Will my right hon. Friend provide further detail on how we can apply a sustainable downward pressure to student loan interest rates in future?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

That is an important question, and I fully recognise the concerns of students and their parents about increasing interest rates. I am looking actively at how we can mitigate that, and we will be setting it out shortly. I emphasise again that no one’s monthly repayment will increase due to higher interest rates, which is an important point to make when people’s budgets are tight.