Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have assessed the impact on the take-up of Disabled Students' Allowance of the introduction of a £200 contribution for IT equipment.

The Department asked Student Finance England (SfE) in January 2017 to conduct a Customer Insight Survey to identify whether the introduction of the £200 contribution towards the cost of a computer was preventing students from ordering IT equipment if recommended. In March 2017, the results were included in an SfE report ‘Student Finance England Disabled Students’ Allowance Equipment Use and Improvements’. This report showed that 6% of respondents considered that the £200 contribution had prevented them from taking up the IT equipment recommendation.