Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many student bursaries were awarded to 16- to 19-year olds between 23 March and 1 September 2020; and what comparative assessment his Department has made of that figure and the number of those bursaries awarded during the same period in each of the past five years.

16 to 19 Bursary funding is designed to help students overcome the individual financial barriers to participation that they face, and institutions must ensure the funds go to those who genuinely need them. It has 2 elements, the discretionary bursary, and the bursary for defined vulnerable groups.

Education providers draw down the funding for the bursary for defined vulnerable groups when they have identified an eligible student. Information on this element of the bursary fund is below (latest full year data is not yet available).

The discretionary bursary funding element is allocated to individual education institutions for them to administer to students. Because this is devolved to individual providers, the Department for Education does not hold information about the number of discretionary bursaries awarded or the total overall number of bursaries.