Written question asked by Nicholas Brown (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 April 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 April 2012. It was answered by Lord Willetts (Conservative) on Monday, 30 April 2012 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Students: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to review the effects of his Department's student fees and funding charge system over time; and if he will publish the arrangements for any such review.

Answer: An impact assessment was published in June 2011 to accompany the Higher Education White Paper 'Students at the Heart of the System', which included a post-implementation review plan.The assessment of the impacts of the higher education reforms will be an ongoing exercise using a range of approaches from monitoring based on administrative data sources to specially designed and commissioned evaluation studies to understand the operation or impact of specific aspects. Many aspects can be monitored from administrative data sources on an ongoing basis for example overall levels of applications, participation and completion of different types of students in different types of institutions, modes of study and subject areas.A key element of the reforms is the introduction of the National Scholarship Programme (NSP). Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) have recently commissioned a formative evaluation of the NSP. A review of the initial set-up and operation of NSP has just been completed. A final report is due in summer 2015.In addition, the Office for Fair Access will monitor and review progress made by higher education institutions (HEI's) via access agreements on an annual basis.Additionally, statistics on student application numbers, student record and finance for the 2012/13 academic year will be provided by Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS), Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Student Loan Company (SLC).

Secondary information