Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Investigation into student loans issued to those studying at franchised higher education providers

Status: Closed Opened: 10 Jan 2024 Closed: 29 May 2024 9 recommendations 18 conclusions 1 report

Higher education providers can create partnerships, or ‘franchises’, with other institutions to provide courses on their behalf. These franchised providers are not required to register with the Office for Students (OfS), which regulates higher education. Lead providers keep responsibility for teaching quality and protecting students’ interests. In 2022 and 2023, the Student Loans Company (SLC) …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Twenty-Eighth Report - Student loans issued to those studyi… HC 455 24 Apr 2024 27 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

1 item
12 Recommendation Twenty-Eighth Report - Student loans is… Accepted in Part

High tuition fee deductions by lead providers impact student spending, quality, and support access.

We challenged DfE whether this level of deduction from tuition fees was acceptable. DfE emphasised that the fee taken by the lead provider should represent the value added by that lead provider.27 While noting that there is a range, OfS described some of the tuition fee amounts retained by lead …

Government response. The government will ask the OfS to consider requiring providers to publish details on the proportion of tuition fees they retain and for what purposes when the OfS next makes changes to ongoing conditions of registration.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
26 Feb 2024 Chris Larmer · Student Loans Company, Julia Kinniburgh · Department for Education, Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education, Susan Lapworth · Office for Students View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
18 Mar 2024 Correspondence from Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary, Department for Educ…