To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning whether the financial assistance for students, who have been in foster care or care of social services for a significant period of time, that this currently provided by the University of Ulster and Queen’s University, including Stranmillis University College, will be ring-fenced following budget cuts to his Department's budget.

Access to Success, my Department’s regional strategy for widening participation, has identified care leavers as being under-represented in higher education.

Through the submission of annual Widening Access and Participation Plans the Department is able to monitor and review the work that each institution is doing to widen participation, which includes the work they are doing to encourage those from a care background to enter higher education and the subsequent support they are offered to progress through their chosen course.

Each year the higher education institutions re-invest a significant proportion of their additional fee income to attract and retain students from groups that are identified as under-represented in Access to Success. However, while the Department encourages higher education institutions to make additional investment in support for students who have been in foster care or care of social services, it is a matter for each of the individual institutions to decide on the quantum of this support depending on individual circumstances.