Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether university income from student tuition fee loans is classed as public or private funds; what legal advice, if any, they have received to this effect; and whether they will publish any such advice.

The government pays universities directly in respect of the tuition fee loans which are approved for eligible students each year. Students are then legally obliged to repay any tuition fee loans in accordance with the contract they sign when taking out the loan. The Office for National Statistics classifies the money provided by the government to cover tuition fees as a debt for the purposes of the public finances. The government does not ordinarily disclose its legal advice as that is protected by legal professional privilege.