Student sponsors with a track record of compliance can self-assess degree level and above students’ English language ability. The assessment must confirm English ability equivalent to level B2, or above, of the Common European Framework for Language Learning in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

A review of English language sponsor self-assessment testing methods on the Student route is in progress.

The government has been clear that we welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK. Higher education (HE) providers in the UK hosted 732,285 international students in the 2023/24 academic year, who come from all over the world and benefit UK HE and our society as a whole, boosting our economy by more than £21 billion a year.

The government is currently reviewing the UK’s International Education Strategy to ensure that it aligns with wider government policy and provides clear direction to the sector, including on international student recruitment.

Further, the department and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are working to ensure that the UK space sector can access the skills and talent needed to grow whilst ensuring long-term investment and growth of the domestic talent pool, in line with the Immigration White Paper and the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.

This may include collaborative working on the 2025/26 Space Sector Skills Survey, or closer engagement in key sector-facing and ministerial forums on space, all of which will be key to advising the government on how to achieve the right balance of international talent and domestic opportunity.

We have frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years to deliver better value for students and to keep the cost of higher education (HE) under control. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.

The government is considering options for maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2024/25 academic year and will be making an announcement in due course.

Decisions on student finance have been taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of HE is shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.

The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that are impacting students. For the 2023/24 academic year we have made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available to support successful outcomes for students including disadvantaged students. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.

The Government has established a supportive framework to empower universities in equipping students with the essential skills required for success.

The department is investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels to ensure students have access to high-quality STEM teaching and STEM career opportunities. The department is investing approximately £750 million of additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25 in high-quality teaching and facilities. This includes additional funding in science and engineering, in subjects that support the NHS, and in degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the higher education (HE) sector in over a decade to support students and improve teaching.

The Higher Education Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey showed that the number of graduate start-ups increased by 5% (from 4,528 in 2020/21 to 4,735 in 2021/22), which is the highest annual figure in the survey's history.

The National Careers Service also provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice, and guidance on careers, skills, and the Labour Market in England. The service provides support to individuals studying STEM subjects in HE, and helps industry sectors to disseminate key information and updates.

Students and taxpayers invest tens of thousands of pounds in HE. This must lead to good quality qualifications, which equip students with the skills they need to achieve their potential.

The National Cyber Security Centre delivers a range of initiatives through CyberFirst, including a schools and colleges recognition programme, the undergraduate bursary scheme, and the CyberFirst Girls Competition for 12-13 year olds. As part of this effort, DSIT also delivers the Cyber Explorers platform for 11-14 year olds.

In the North East, girls from 17 schools entered the CyberFirst Girls Competition and 15 institutions are recognised as CyberFirst Schools and Colleges. Also, 80 schools participate in the Cyber Explorers online platform, including 6 in Newcastle Central.

There are 89 undergraduate bursary students studying at universities in the North East. A further 2,283 learners are registered on Cyber Explorers, including 50 in Newcastle Central, as well as 122 students who have applied to attend a CyberFirst summer course at Durham University.

The Office for Students collect and publish sector-level data on income and full economic cost by type of activity including publicly funded teaching (which relates to domestic and EU domiciled students, but not international students). The latest published data can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/annual-trac-2020-21/.

As part of the 2019 Augur Review on Post-18 Education and Funding, the department commissioned and published a report by KPMG on the cost of undergraduate provision which looked at the variation in costs of teaching per student across subjects and providers. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-undergraduate-higher-education-provision.

The department also published a related analytical note on subject variations in the cost of teaching an undergraduate, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-18-review-of-education-and-funding-supporting-statistics.

The department discusses the additional cost of living pressures that are impacting students this year in our regular meetings with stakeholders, including the Office for Students (OfS), Universities UK and the higher education Mission Groups. The department has also consulted with the National Association of Student Money Advisers to understand the ongoing situation in relation to increased requests from students for hardship awards from their universities.

On 11 January 2023, the department announced a one-off reallocation of funding to add £15 million to this year's student premium funding, enabling extra hardship awards to be made to tens of thousands of disadvantaged students. There is now £276 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students. This extra funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department works with the OfS to ensure universities support students using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.

All households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Act, passed on 25 October 2022, includes the provision which requires landlords to pass any benefits they receive from energy price support onto end users, as appropriate. Further details of the requirements under this Act are set out in the legislation.

My Department has made a one-off reallocation of funding to add £15 million to this year’s student premium, now worth £276 million. Universities can support disadvantaged students by drawing on this student premium and their own hardship funds, and many universities such as Newcastle and Northumbria have allocated funds to support disadvantaged students.

Of course I recognise that some students are facing hardship with the cost of living challenges, like many people up and down the country. The £276 million is a lot of money that universities can draw on. As I mentioned, there has been an increase of £15 million. Students in private accommodation can get a £400 rebate on their energy bills. We have frozen tuition fees for the past few years; by 2024-25, they will have been frozen for seven years. We have increased maximum loans and grants by 2.8% and if students’ incomes fall below a certain level, they can reapply to get their loans looked at. I really welcome the fact that Newcastle University has increased the package of support available to students to more than £1.7 million—

Based on data from the National Travel Survey, the number of students who regularly use trains to travel to school in the North East is estimated to be less than one percent.

There is regular engagement between the Home Office and the Department for Education on the provision of education for international students.

The Department for Education is responsible for determining which students qualify for Home Fee Status and providing information to prospective students regarding their eligibility.

The government has been considering an Alternative Student Finance product carefully alongside wider reforms to the higher education system and will provide an update alongside the conclusion to the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding. The interim conclusion of the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding was published on 21 January 2021, and we will conclude the Review in full at a future date.

The government plays no role in the provision of student residential accommodation. We do not collate or currently hold information pertaining to the number of university students who have faced difficulty meeting accommodation costs.

Universities and private accommodation providers are autonomous and are responsible for setting their own rent agreements. Whether a student is entitled to a refund or to an early release from their contract will depend on the specific contractual arrangements between them and their provider.

This has been a very difficult time for students. We welcome the decision from many universities and accommodation providers to offer rent rebates for students who needed to stay away from their term-time address, and we urge all providers to join them and offer students partial refunds. We encourage universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure they are fair, clear and have the interests of students at heart.

The government is aware of the disproportionate impact the crisis will have on some students and we recognise that in these exceptional circumstances some students may face financial hardship. The department has worked with the Office for Students to clarify that providers are able to use existing funds, worth around £256 million for this academic year, towards hardship support. The government has made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to higher education providers in the 2020/21 academic year. Providers have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to their students, in a way that best prioritises those in greatest need. Support can include help for students, including international students and postgraduates, facing additional costs arising from having to maintain accommodation in more than one location or assistance to help students access teaching remotely.

We know that not all students will face financial hardship. The current measures aim to target support for students in greatest need and the government continues to monitor the situation to look at what impact this funding is having.

If students have concerns about their accommodation fees, they should first raise their concerns with their accommodation provider. If their concerns remain unresolved, and their higher education provider is involved in the provision of the accommodation, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint. If a student needs help, organisations such as Citizens Advice offer a free service, providing information and support.

If a student thinks their accommodation provider is treating them unfairly, they can raise a complaint under the accommodation codes of practice as long as their provider is a code member. The codes can be found at: https://www.thesac.org.uk/, https://www.unipol.org.uk/the-code/how-to-complain and https://www.rla.org.uk/about/nrla-code-of-practice.shtml.

The government plays no role in the provision of student residential accommodation. Universities and private accommodation providers are autonomous and are responsible for setting their own rent agreements. Whether a student is entitled to a refund or to an early release from their contract will depend on the specific contractual arrangements between them and their provider.

This has been a very difficult time for students. We welcome the decision from many universities and accommodation providers to offer rent rebates for students who needed to stay away from their term-time address, and we urge all large providers to join them and offer students partial refunds. We encourage universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure they are fair, clear and have the interests of students at heart.

We recognise that in these exceptional circumstances some students may face financial hardship. The department has worked with the Office for Students to clarify that providers are able to use existing funds, worth around £256 million for this academic year, towards hardship support. The government has made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to higher education providers in the 2020/21 academic year.

If students have concerns about their accommodation fees, they should first raise their concerns with their accommodation provider. If their concerns remain unresolved, and their higher education provider is involved in the provision of the accommodation, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint. If a student needs help, organisations such as Citizens Advice offer a free service, providing information and support.

If a student thinks their accommodation provider is treating them unfairly, they can raise a complaint under the accommodation codes of practice as long as their provider is a code member. The codes can be found at: https://www.thesac.org.uk/, https://www.unipol.org.uk/the-code/how-to-complain and https://www.rla.org.uk/about/nrla-code-of-practice.shtml.

Student mental health is a key priority for this government and since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, I have stressed the importance of protecting student and staff wellbeing. We recognise that many students are facing additional mental health challenges due to the disruption and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Universities are not only experts in their student population, but also best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body. We continue to work closely with the higher education sector to promote good practice.

While it is for higher education (HE) providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support, the government is proactive in promoting good practice in this area. We continue to work closely with Universities UK on embedding the Stepchange programme within the sector. Stepchange calls on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice. The Stepchange programme relaunched in March 2020 as the Mentally Healthy Universities programme. Further information can be found here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/stepchange-mhu.aspx. The university Mental Health Charter, announced in June 2018, is backed by the government and led by the sector. The charter, developed in collaboration with students, staff and partner organisations, aims to drive up standards of practice, including leadership, early intervention and data collection. Further information about the charter can be accessed here: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/charter.html.

I have engaged with universities on this issue and have written to Vice Chancellors on numerous occasions during the past year, most recently last month, outlining that student welfare should remain a priority and have convened a working group of representatives from the HE and health sectors to specifically address the current and pressing issues that students are facing during the outbreak.

My hon. Friend, the Minister for Children and Families, and I have also convened a Mental Health in Education Action Group to drive action to mitigate the impact of the outbreak on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and staff in nurseries, schools, colleges and universities.

We have worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to provide Student Space, a dedicated mental health and wellbeing platform for students, which has been funded by up to £3 million from the OfS in the 2020/21 academic year. We have also asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in 2021/22 through proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities Grant funding to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target those students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable groups and hard to reach students.

Universities and other higher education (HE) providers are autonomous and responsible for setting their own fees within maximum fee limits set by regulations, where applicable. The government has been clear that universities are expected to maintain quality and academic standards and the quantity of tuition should not drop.

The sector has put in significant resources and worked hard to provide and prepare learning materials for this academic year and there are some fantastic and innovative approaches to delivering high-quality online learning.

However, we have made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to HE providers in the 2020/21 academic year.

Providers have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to students, in a way that best prioritises those in greatest need. The funding can be distributed to a wide population of students, including postgraduates (whether taught or research) and international students.

This money is in addition to the £256 million of Student Premium funding HE providers are able draw on this academic year towards student hardship funds.

We know that not all students will face financial hardship. The current measures aim to target support for students in greatest need and the government continues to monitor the situation going forward to look at what impact this funding is having.

To ensure the HE student finance system remains financially sustainable, only those students who fall within the categories of eligible students in regulations qualify for home fee status and are subject to maximum fee limits for their UK courses. HE providers can charge higher fees for international students who are not eligible for home fee status. Whether or not an individual student is entitled to a refund of fees will depend on the specific contractual arrangements between the provider and student.

The government has already announced that maximum fees in the 2021/22 academic year will remain at £9,250 for a standard full-time course. We also intend to freeze the maximum tuition fee caps for 2022/23, which will reduce debt levels for students compared to allowing fee caps to increase with inflation and help to keep the cost of higher education under control. This will be the fifth year in succession that maximum fees have been frozen.

Following the review into when the remaining higher education students can return to in-person teaching and learning, the government has announced that the remaining students should return to in-person teaching no earlier than 17 May 2021, alongside Step 3 of the roadmap. Students and institutions will be given at least a week’s notice of any further return in accordance with the timing of Step 3 of the roadmap.

The government roadmap is designed to maintain a cautious approach to the easing of restrictions to reduce public health risks and ensure that we can maintain progress towards full reopening. However, the government recognises the difficulties and disruption that this may cause for many students and their families and that is why the government is making a further £15 million of additional student hardship funding available for this academic year 2020/21. In total we have made an additional £85 million of funding available for student hardship.

We are supporting universities to provide regular twice weekly asymptomatic testing for all students and staff on-site and, from May, at home. This will help break chains of transmission of the virus.

The welfare of students, staff and the communities around higher education (HE) providers remain our top priority. To help providers make informed decisions about their provision, the government has issued guidance on the return of students in spring term, which is based on the latest public health advice. From 8 March, we have advised HE providers to resume in-person teaching for students on practical or practice-based (including creative arts) courses, in addition to courses in priority subjects which resumed in January.

Once students have returned to their term-time accommodation they must remain living there unless an exemption to the national restrictions on leaving home and gatherings applies. They must only travel home where they have a legally permitted reason to do so. If students rely on an exemption to travel home (for example if they need to move home temporarily because of illness or mental ill-health), they should ensure that they test as soon as possible on their return to university. In addition, students will be able to return home for their Easter break, if they choose to do so. However, in order to minimise transmission, we strongly advise that students remain in their term time accommodation where possible. Where students do travel home for their Easter break, they should get tested before they travel. Students are also encouraged to test before they travel back to university, where community testing facilities are available. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-testing-explainer/community-testing-programme-areas. If they test positive, they will be legally required to self-isolate for ten days and should not travel. All HE providers should set an expectation that students should test as soon as possible upon their return to/arrival at university, and twice weekly thereafter.

We know that many providers are planning to continue teaching and provide access to facilities over the Easter break. We encourage students to use this provision where it available.

UKRI has made over £62 million of financial support available to students most impacted by the pandemic. It is estimated that this funding is available for up to 12,000 students. This is part of a wider package of support where UKRI has already taken significant measures through £180m in costed extensions for research grants, and £334m support for innovative businesses that help support others in the system and their careers, which benefits doctoral students through.

On the requests for additional funding support beyond this, we consider that any additional support to postgraduate researchers must be balanced with the need to support wider research and development funding, including existing commitments. UKRI have recently provided a update on its decision-making in providing support for the research system (Supporting students through the pandemic – UKRI).

I regularly meet with the Minister of State for Universities and with the CEO of UKRI, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, to monitor how the pandemic is affecting UKRI-funded PhD students and the wider research system. We will continue to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 and UKRI continues to listen and respond carefully.

Public Health England report on acute respiratory infection (ARI) incidents in the following settings; care homes, food outlet/restaurants, workplaces, educational settings, hospitals and prisons.

Any ARI incidents that do not fit in these categories are captured under the ‘Other’ category.