Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce levels of student debt.

The government is capping the maximum interest rates on Plan 2 and 3 student loans at 6%, rather than RPI+3%, from 1 September, for the 2026/27 academic year, delivering stability and protection for graduates from escalating student loan interest.

This short-term measure removes the risk of a temporary increase in inflation due to the situation in the Middle East causing loan balances to compound at an unsustainable rate and is in line with actions taken in the past to secure stability in the student finance system.

Secondly, the government is reintroducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants from academic year 2028/29, which will provide disadvantaged students with up to £1,000 extra support per year, without increasing their debt.

Student finance and higher education funding is a complex, interconnected, system. We are considering a range of options to make the system fairer, but to be fiscally responsible we must consider how any change would be funded.