Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by how many percentage points undergraduate and postgraduate loans for maintenance increased in the 2020-21 academic year compared to the 2019-20 academic year.

Maximum grants and loans for living and other costs for undergraduate students and maximum postgraduate disabled students’ allowances were increased for the 2020/21 academic year by the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast of inflation (RPI-X) for the first quarter of the 2021 calendar year, which was 2.9%.

The same increase was applied to maximum postgraduate master’s degree loans and postgraduate doctoral degree loans for students starting courses in the 2020/21 academic year.