Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for higher education providers to widen access programmes in the context of an increase in providers registered with the Office for Students.

All higher education providers wishing to charge tuition fees above the basic fee level (£6,000+), and to be eligible for funding from the Strategic Priorities Grant, must agree an access and participation plan with the Office for Students (OfS) in accordance with the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. These plans need to set out their targets and planned expenditure to improve access and participation based on their priorities, and the gaps they need to address for their own institution.

To support students most at risk of dropping out, the government provides additional formula-based funding for providers through the student premium (part of the Strategic Priorities Grant). As of July 2021, the OfS has allocated student premium funding totalling £273m to providers for the 2021/22 academic year.