Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what penalties are in place for higher education institutions that knowingly accept UK student fee status for students who hold British passports, but whose parents have not paid tax in the UK for past five years, and whose education is shown to have taken place overseas.

Higher education institutions have discretion to charge a student who is not eligible for home fee status whatever fee they deem appropriate, including the same fee as they charge students who have home fee status.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates funding to HE institutions, to cover some of the teaching costs of students who are eligible for home fees status and studying high cost subjects. The Council monitors the student number data of all institutions, to ensure they receive only the funding to which they are entitled. HEFCE has powers to withhold funding from any institution which has received funding for which it is not eligible.

Student Finance England is responsible for assessing students’ eligibility for financial support. It can only award support to students who satisfy the eligibility criteria in full. The fee a student is paying is not considered in this assessment.