Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to remove the prohibition on student finance for applicants with PhDs wanting to study in Government-prioritised research fields.

The Postgraduate Doctoral Loan provides up to £30,301 for courses starting on or after 1 August 2025 and is intended as a contribution to the costs of PhD study.

Students who already have a doctoral degree, or a qualification that’s equivalent or higher, are not eligible for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.

There are no plans to change the eligibility criteria of Postgraduate Doctoral Loans.