Proposed changes to the London weighting to London universities teaching grant

That this House is deeply concerned by the Department for Education’s guidance letter issued to the Office for Students on the teaching grant for 2021-22 that pledges to remove weightings for London providers; notes that the costs of removing London weighting to the T-grant will most likely be shouldered by students; further notes that the costs of the cuts will have a disproportionate impact on those from widening participation backgrounds; considers that half of the boroughs in London are in the most deprived third of English local authorities and therefore appreciates that the cuts would hit the economies of the poorest boroughs the hardest; further appreciates that such cuts could result in the rollback of student mental health and wellbeing services; urges the Government to take into account that London is already the UK’s most expensive city in which to live and study; further asks the Government to consider the substantial output of London university research, as the proposals risk the loss of more than 1000 academics and calls on the Government to reconsider the proposals so that the financial burden is not carried by students who choose to study in London.