Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review
the operation of the Disabled Students’ Allowance scheme to
ensure it is working in a timely manner and in the best interests
of those it is set up to support.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, the Department for Education continues to work closely
with the Student Loans Company to seek ways to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the disabled students’ allowance.
Current projects include improving the application experience for
students and putting in place contracts for the provision of
needs assessment and assistive technology, which should secure
increased value for money and improve the service to
students.
(Con)
My Lords, considering the problems with the application process,
the 150-day wait between application and potential award, and
that there is no audit or quality assurance, the scheme is
clearly not working in a timely or optimal manner for those it is
set up to serve. Does my noble friend agree that it is time for a
review and an overhaul of disabled students’ allowance for
visually impaired students and all disabled students? Will she
agree to meet me and others to fully examine all the issues?
(Con)
I would of course be delighted to meet my noble friend to explore
this, but a number of important improvements have already been
introduced into the system. As we go forward, the Department for
Education has set clear expectations for the quality standards
that all DSA suppliers should meet. We will monitor these
standards. We will have access to sound data with which to do
this, in collaboration with the Student Loans Company, and will
carry out audits at any time. We believe that the new procurement
model will indeed improve the service for all DSA students.
(LD)
My Lords, I declare my interests in this field. Would the
Minister care to comment on the fact that if you are identified
as dyslexic at 14, you have to be told again once you are 18 that
you are still dyslexic—it is a lifetime condition—and pay roughly
£600 on both occasions for this privilege? How does this help
anybody other than the person doing the assessment?
(Con)
I am slightly confused by the noble Lord’s question. My
understanding is that his point was valid up until 2019, but we
changed the criteria then so that any pre-existing dyslexia
assessment from any age would be valid in higher education.
(Lab)
My Lords, on that very point, will the Minister take back to
other departments the immediate expansion of the pilot programme
for the passport that allows the assessment to be carried through
not just for disabled students’ allowance but to access to work?
If this were carried all the way through from school and college
this problem would, at least in part, be resolved.
(Con)
I would be delighted to share that with colleagues in other
departments.
(Con)
I welcome the improvements to which my noble friend has just
referred but can she say something about the totality of
resources available to disabled students so that all those who
are entitled to this equipment have access to it?
(Con)
My noble friend will be aware that changes have been made to how
the allowance works. There will be a single annual allowance of
£25,000, which will replace four separate allowances. Our aim is
that it will be simpler and more flexible. When we did the
equality impact assessment we found that, over three years, four
students out of about 70,000 would be disadvantaged by this but
that visually and hearing-impaired students in particular would
have much flexibility about how they used the resource available
to them.
(Lab)
My Lords, I think the Government reformed DSA only last year, but
the official evaluation quoted by the Commons Library found that
only 55% of those getting DSA agreed that the support they
received met all their needs. The really interesting thing was
when they were asked whether the DSA enabled them to participate
more fully in their course than they would be able to otherwise,
only two-thirds said yes. I think that means that it is better
than nothing. Given that we are spending £120 million a year on
this, does the Minister think that perhaps a more fundamental
review is needed?
(Con)
I will look again at the research to which the noble Baroness
refers, but, putting it another way, each student has a right to
up to £25,000 a year. The average DSA—I appreciate it is the
average and that there will be extremes at either end—is just
below £2,000, so there is clearly no financial limit on students
getting the support they need and we are absolutely committed to
them receiving it.
The Lord Privy Seal () (Con)
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Winchester, wishes
to speak virtually. I think this is a convenient point for me to
call her.
(LD) [V]
My Lords, a student I know with the hidden disabilities of ADHD
and dyslexia has had very good support from Brunel University
because she had been told about DSA not at her school but at her
diagnosis. Could the Minister encourage all schools to be more
proactive in explaining the benefits of DSA?
(Con)
The noble Baroness makes a good point and it is helpful to have a
specific example. We work very hard to raise awareness of DSA
through multiple channels, but there is still a significant gap
between the number of registered disabled students at university
and those who access the grant.
(LD)
Is the Minister satisfied with the take-up of DSA, particularly
by students who have hidden disabilities? A report I saw
recently—it was a few years ago—indicated that around 60% of
students were not able to take it up and that only 13% or so were
being informed about it by their university or college. Has there
been an improvement on that?
(Con)
I do not have the most recent data to hand, but if there is more
up-to-date data, I will be very happy to share it with the noble
Baroness and the rest of the House. Our understanding is that
most eligible students who go through the full application
process are getting the support they need, but the noble Baroness
raises a good point about what happens to students who start the
application and perhaps do not complete it or who are unaware of
it. We are trying to address both those points.
