Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support the financial position of universities in the long term.

The government has supported English and EU domiciled students with £10.7 billion in subsidised higher education (HE) tuition fee loans paid out in the 2022/23 financial year. The government believes that freezing fees at their current level for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years achieves the best balance between ensuring that the system remains sustainable, offering good value for the taxpayer, and controlling debt levels for students.

The government is also investing approximately £750 million in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to support high quality teaching and facilities including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade.

The Strategic Priorities Grant is funding supplied by the government on an annual basis to support teaching and students in HE, including expensive to deliver subjects, such as science and engineering, students at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers. The recurrent Strategic Priorities Grant budget is £1,454 million for the 2023/24 financial year. This is an increase of 4% from last year.