To ask the Minister for the Economy what financial support her Department will provide to Further and Higher Education institutions and students to facilitate a recommended move to distance learning.

My Department has allocated £3.1 million to Further Education (FE) colleges to enable delivery of curriculum provision online, thereby enabling students and staff to work remotely during this period of uncertainty in order to complete vocational qualifications. This funding will provide additional IT equipment, peripherals and licences.

My Department has also ensured that current FE student support arrangements with an annual value of £13 million continue to operate effectively, or have been adapted, to direct support to students in need, including facilitating distance learning. For example, eligibility criteria for FE Grants and Hardship Fund have been updated to facilitate claimants participating in distance learning, acceptance of electronic applications and evidence, and paying childcare despite the student studying from home.

An additional £0.4 million has been allocated to fund direct payment of Free School Meal Allowances into the households of almost 1,900 eligible school-age FE students for the remainder of the 2019/20 academic year and to facilitate summer payments, when students were not able to attend college. For 2020/21 Term 1, I am seeking to allocate an additional £0.17 million to fund direct payment of Free School Meal Allowances into the households of eligible school-age FE students to ensure students are not disadvantaged by distance learning. This arrangement will be reviewed for Term 2.

My Department will continue to keep FE student support arrangements under review and adapt these as required in response to evolving needs.

For Higher Education students studying online from home in 2020/21, their student finance will continue to be paid as normal, as if they were studying on site at university or college. Students should ensure that their living location details are up to date on their online account at www.studentfinanceni.co.uk. As part of their student finance agreement, students must keep Student Finance NI up to date with where they'll be living each term, as this may affect how much they have to repay and when. In addition to this support, I have doubled the amount of hardship funds available to students from £2.8m to £5.6m in 2020/21. These funds are distributed by the universities on behalf of my Department, and any students who are experiencing genuine financial hardship should contact the Student Support team at their university to see if they are eligible for a hardship payment.

While my Department is responsible for funding NI higher education institutions insofar as teaching and research is concerned, as autonomous institutions, it is for the universities themselves to decide how that teaching will be delivered, taking into account prevailing public health guidance. I understand, however, that as part of their Covid-19 operational planning, both Queen’s University and Ulster University already have in place contingencies to pivot fully to online delivery.