Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the equipment contribution payable by students in receipt of disabled student allowances on the number of disabled students claiming that equipment.

The most recent data show that, for full-time undergraduate students domiciled in England, 4,600 fewer students were in receipt of equipment Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) in 2015/16 than in 2014/15. The full data are available at http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx. The main reason for this fall is that the £200 student contribution to the costs of computer hardware took effect from September 2015.

We are keen to better understand the impact of DSAs on eligible students, including that of recent DSAs reforms. We have commissioned a research project to explore this and we will respond to the research findings when they are available in spring 2018.