Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support the Government plans to provide to UK universities to help compensate for a potential loss of income in the event that there are decreases in the number of overseas students attending those universities as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

We recognise that the impact of the covid-19 outbreak will pose a significant challenge to institutional management, efficiency and financial planning.

The Department for Education is working closely with the Office for Students, which will monitor the impact of covid-19, among other factors, on the financial health of registered English higher education (HE) providers. We are also working with Universities UK, which has established a coordination group of HE institutions and other sector bodies to prepare for the effects of an outbreak.