Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to change student loan eligibility for young people who do not obtain GCSEs in English and Maths.

In the higher education policy statement and reform consultation, which closed on 6 May, the department started a conversation on the principle of a minimum eligibility requirement (MER) for access to student finance for those intending to study a degree-level qualification.

The department intends that this policy would apply to students accessing English student finance for full-time level 6 study in the UK. This is so that publicly funded access to university courses is directed to those students who are more likely to benefit from level 6 study.

We have consulted on a MER set at either two E grades at A level, or a grade 4 in GCSE English and maths. We have also consulted on proposed exemptions from a MER, including for part-time and mature students, and, for a MER set at GCSE (grade 4 in English and maths), for students who have gone on to achieve CCC at A level (or equivalent).

A decision has not yet been made on whether to introduce a MER. The department is considering consultation responses and will publish the government's response in due course.