Luciana Berger MP responds to #savestudentopportunities
We - today - received the following reply from Luciana Berger MP, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree, covering the Smithdown Road area.
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Dear Curtis
Thank you for contacting me recently regarding possible Government funding cuts to the Student Opportunity Fund (SOF).
I appreciate the concerns that many students, universities and organisations including the NUS have expressed about this issue and I know that the SOF is widely valued as an important scheme to encourage young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and disabled students, to attend university.
As I am sure you are aware, the SOF builds on the Widening Participation Scheme, which was introduced by the previous Labour Government and helped many poorer students to go to university. When I was an elected member of the NUS national executive I saw firsthand how important this scheme was.
I agree it is vital that support is made available for those students who need it and I believe that any changes to student funding must carefully bear in mind the impact this will have on student participation, particularly among those from poorer backgrounds.
The Government have stated that they are currently reviewing the SOF budget for future years and that an announcement will be made shortly. I appreciate that there has been media speculation that there may be very significant cuts – of up to £200 million – to the SOF budget and that this will be particularly keenly felt coming as it does on top of the Government’s decisions to scrap the Aim Higher scheme, to treble tuition fees to £9,000 per year and to reduce funding for the National Scholarship Programme (NSP) by £100 million.
I hope that the Government listen carefully and respond to the concerns raised by the NUS and students about these cuts and that they also review the consequences of any reduction in SOF funding on participation levels.
I can assure you that I will continue to follow this issue closely and bear in mind the points you raise.
Thank you once again for writing to me and for sharing your views, and if I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Luciana Berger
Labour and Co-operative MP for Liverpool Wavertree
Shadow Minister for Public Health
