Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) students, (b) schools and (c) universities with the application process to study higher education courses from autumn 2021.

The government is working closely with partners across the education sector, including universities and schools, to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the disruption it has caused to young people’s education, including for those who will be applying to university for the 2021 admissions cycle.

For students applying to enter university in 2021, the UCAS deadline for most courses was pushed back to 29 January 2021. We recognise that this is a difficult time for young people, and it is vital that students applying to university in 2021 had this extra time to carefully consider their applications and make the best choices for their future. 415,470 people in England applied to full-time undergraduate courses by this deadline, up 11% from the equivalent January deadline for 2020.

We encourage universities to be flexible when making offers to individual students and we continue to work closely with the sector to ensure that students are not further disadvantaged by the COVID-19 outbreak.

We will continue to make every effort to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on young people’s education, so that they are well placed to progress to the next stage of their lives, wherever they live and whatever choices they make.