Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of increases in the cost of (a) energy bills and (b) rent on students in winter 2022.

The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have impacted students. Decisions on student finance will have to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.

On 11 January 2023, the department announced a one-off reallocation of funding so we can add £15 million to this year's student premium, to support additional hardship requests. There is now £276 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. This extra funding will complement the help that universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department works with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students in hardship using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.

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 Act passed on 25 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 act are set out in the legislation.

The department has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for undergraduate and postgraduate students each year with a 2.3% increase for the current academic year, 2022/23. The department has also recently announced a further 2.8% increase in maximum loans and grants for the 2023/24 academic year starting in August 2023.

In addition, the department has frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2022/23 academic year and also for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years. We believe that a continued fee freeze achieves the best balance between ensuring that the system remains sustainable, offering good value for the taxpayer, and reducing debt levels for students in real terms.

Universities and private accommodation providers are autonomous and are responsible for setting their own rent agreements. The department plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation, whether the accommodation is managed by universities or private sector organisations. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a price reduction to ensure that all businesses and other non-domestic customers, including universities and private purpose-built student accommodation providers, are protected from high energy bills this winter.