Dear Raimondas,
Thank you for contacting me about support for students.
High living costs are putting pressure on student budgets, affecting
their learning and wellbeing. According to the Office for National
Statistics, 29% of students were skipping non-mandatory lectures to save
money on transport and nearly 50% said they were “very worried” about
the cost of living.
On 11 January, the Government announced that maintenance loans in the
2023/24 academic year will increase by 2.8%. Yet, according to the
Institute for Fiscal Studies, this will still be much lower in real
terms than in 2020/21, and the additional £15 billion of funding
announced to help universities provide extra support to students is
estimated to come to around £10 per person. I worry universities are
having to do more and more to help students, with little support from
Ministers.
Analysis from the rental website StuRents last year found a third of
student accommodation cost more than the average maintenance loan.
Ministers have committed to introducing better protections for tenants
renting in the private sector, including measures to limit rent
increases to once a year. However, I am concerned that this does not
offer effective protection against unaffordable rent rises and the
Government is not introducing reforms quickly enough.
Affordable public transport also helps tackle costs of living, but towns
and cities have had to accept rising fares and cuts to routes for too
long in my view. I want to see local communities back in control of
public transport to lower fares and improve services, following the path
set by our brilliant Mayors, such as in Greater Manchester, where young
people aged 16 to 18 can currently travel for free on most local bus
services.
I support calls for a Take Back Control Bill to provide the basis for
the largest transfer of power from central Government to local people,
including powers over public transport and greater control over skills
funding.
Further education is crucial to improving skills and driving growth, but
I am concerned it is not a priority for Ministers with per student
funding for 16- to 18-year-olds in further education colleges falling by
14% in real terms between 2010/11 and 2019/20.
Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.
Yours sincerely,
Feryal Clark MP
