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1141127

registered interest
date	22/07/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Education on the financial implications for universities of delays in the processing of free visa applications for international students who have been offered places by universities to study in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	280139
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office regularly engages with representatives from the education sector, including the Department for Education. This has included recent discussions on Tier 4 services during the AutumnOperationally we are currently deciding Tier 4 visa applications within published service standards.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes grouped question UIN 280168 280171 question first answered 25/07/2019 15:31:49 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1141130

registered interest
date	22/07/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of UK Visa and Citizenship Applications Services in providing free appointments for international students at (a) its Cardiff centre and (b) its other five centres.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	280170
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2019 answer text <p>We wrote to Tier 4 sponsors, including Cardiff University on 11 July 2019 to set out Sopra Steria’s offer for Tier 4 students applying in the Autumn, which includes the provision of dedicated Tier 4 Service Points.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes grouped question UIN 280169 question first answered 25/07/2019 15:29:58 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1141132

registered interest
date	22/07/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the adequacy of procedures to process tier 4 visa procedures.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	280171
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office regularly engages with representatives from the education sector, including the Department for Education. This has included recent discussions on Tier 4 services during the AutumnOperationally we are currently deciding Tier 4 visa applications within published service standards.</p> answering member constituency Romsey and Southampton North answering member printed Caroline Nokes grouped question UIN 280139 280168 question first answered 25/07/2019 15:31:49 answering member 4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1140386

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	National Retraining Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the get help to retrain scheme, whether the digital service will include the assessment of adults' (a) qualifications and (b) skills.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	278909
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>Get Help to Retrain is the first of a series of products that will make up the full National Retraining Scheme (NRS). We are expecting the NRS to evolve and grow as we learn better what best works.</p><p>With support from qualified National Careers Service advisers, the service will support adults to understand which skills they have from their current role and which further skills would be required for a potential new, better job.</p><p>In addition, the service helps people to find training opportunities that may help the user to bridge the skills gap to a new role, initially consisting of training currently available and later including more bespoke offerings. It will also direct users to local job opportunities that could be within their reach.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 23/07/2019 07:27:21 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1140389

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Further Education: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the office for students on registration fees for further education colleges.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	278910
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>All providers are being treated equitably.</p><p> </p><p>We consulted with all providers, including further education (FE) colleges, twice, on the introduction of registration fees (from December 2016 until March 2017, and from October 2017 until December 2017). The Office for Students (OfS) separately consulted on the model for deciding how student numbers should be determined to inform the fee levels. It published the outcomes of this consultation in October 2018. Following the consultation processes, a number of additional bands were added for smaller providers compared with the original proposal. The costs for a very small provider have decreased from the second phase of the consultation, where a provider with 0-50 full-time equivalent student numbers, the lowest band, was proposed to pay £18,200. Providers with full-time equivalent student numbers of no more than 25 will now pay £12,300, and providers with more than 25 but no more than 50 (full time equivalent) will pay £15,350.</p><p> </p><p>We also considered the impact of fees more widely and published an impact assessment in March 2019. The impact assessment considered higher education providers – including FE colleges – taxpayers, the government and students. The impact assessment report stated:</p><p>‘We have … analysed Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) college accounts data for 120 FE colleges with Higher Education Funding Council for England funded learners, that have applied to register and found that FE colleges would be paying on average 0.2% of their total income in registration fees. This ranges from 0.05% to 1.3% of total income but with just one provider paying more than 1%. … these proportions are very small and highly unlikely to impede competition in the higher education market.’</p><p> </p><p>We have committed to a full review of registration fees after 2 years, when the impact of the fees on all providers will be clearer.</p><p> </p><p>I meet regularly with the Chair and officials from the OfS to discuss a wide range of issues, including the financial health of all parts of the higher education sector, which is kept under constant review by the OfS.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 278912 278913 question first answered 23/07/2019 07:17:32 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1140393

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	National Retraining Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the roll-out of the Get Help to Retrain scheme (a) in the Liverpool City Region and (b) to all eligible adults in England by 2020.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	278911
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>In October 2018, the government announced a £100 million initial commitment to continue to test, learn and develop the National Retraining Scheme. This has allowed us to start delivering the first parts of the scheme in the Liverpool City Region. Get Help to Retrain will be expanded to more people and more areas throughout the testing phase before being made available to all eligible adults in England in 2020. In addition to this, we are continuing to develop new products in parallel to the testing of Get Help to Retrain, which will collectively make up the complete service.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 23/07/2019 07:29:51 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1140394

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Further Education: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the office for students registration fees on the financial viability of further education colleges.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	278912
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>All providers are being treated equitably.</p><p> </p><p>We consulted with all providers, including further education (FE) colleges, twice, on the introduction of registration fees (from December 2016 until March 2017, and from October 2017 until December 2017). The Office for Students (OfS) separately consulted on the model for deciding how student numbers should be determined to inform the fee levels. It published the outcomes of this consultation in October 2018. Following the consultation processes, a number of additional bands were added for smaller providers compared with the original proposal. The costs for a very small provider have decreased from the second phase of the consultation, where a provider with 0-50 full-time equivalent student numbers, the lowest band, was proposed to pay £18,200. Providers with full-time equivalent student numbers of no more than 25 will now pay £12,300, and providers with more than 25 but no more than 50 (full time equivalent) will pay £15,350.</p><p> </p><p>We also considered the impact of fees more widely and published an impact assessment in March 2019. The impact assessment considered higher education providers – including FE colleges – taxpayers, the government and students. The impact assessment report stated:</p><p>‘We have … analysed Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) college accounts data for 120 FE colleges with Higher Education Funding Council for England funded learners, that have applied to register and found that FE colleges would be paying on average 0.2% of their total income in registration fees. This ranges from 0.05% to 1.3% of total income but with just one provider paying more than 1%. … these proportions are very small and highly unlikely to impede competition in the higher education market.’</p><p> </p><p>We have committed to a full review of registration fees after 2 years, when the impact of the fees on all providers will be clearer.</p><p> </p><p>I meet regularly with the Chair and officials from the OfS to discuss a wide range of issues, including the financial health of all parts of the higher education sector, which is kept under constant review by the OfS.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 278910 278913 question first answered 23/07/2019 07:17:32 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1140395

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Further Education: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the introduction of a separate office for students registration fee banding for stand alone further education colleges.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	278913
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>All providers are being treated equitably.</p><p> </p><p>We consulted with all providers, including further education (FE) colleges, twice, on the introduction of registration fees (from December 2016 until March 2017, and from October 2017 until December 2017). The Office for Students (OfS) separately consulted on the model for deciding how student numbers should be determined to inform the fee levels. It published the outcomes of this consultation in October 2018. Following the consultation processes, a number of additional bands were added for smaller providers compared with the original proposal. The costs for a very small provider have decreased from the second phase of the consultation, where a provider with 0-50 full-time equivalent student numbers, the lowest band, was proposed to pay £18,200. Providers with full-time equivalent student numbers of no more than 25 will now pay £12,300, and providers with more than 25 but no more than 50 (full time equivalent) will pay £15,350.</p><p> </p><p>We also considered the impact of fees more widely and published an impact assessment in March 2019. The impact assessment considered higher education providers – including FE colleges – taxpayers, the government and students. The impact assessment report stated:</p><p>‘We have … analysed Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) college accounts data for 120 FE colleges with Higher Education Funding Council for England funded learners, that have applied to register and found that FE colleges would be paying on average 0.2% of their total income in registration fees. This ranges from 0.05% to 1.3% of total income but with just one provider paying more than 1%. … these proportions are very small and highly unlikely to impede competition in the higher education market.’</p><p> </p><p>We have committed to a full review of registration fees after 2 years, when the impact of the fees on all providers will be clearer.</p><p> </p><p>I meet regularly with the Chair and officials from the OfS to discuss a wide range of issues, including the financial health of all parts of the higher education sector, which is kept under constant review by the OfS.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 278910 278912 question first answered 23/07/2019 07:17:32 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138393

registered interest
date	11/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Racial Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the article in the Guardian entitled A demeaning environment: stories of racism in UK universities, published 5 July 2019, if he will hold discussions with the Office for Students on their assessment of the scale and nature of racism in UK universities.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	276161
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>There is no place in our society, including within higher education (HE) for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>The government is working closely with the Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) to support work to address racism and other forms of harassment in HE, including implementation of UUK’s Sexual Violence and Harassment Taskforce’s recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>Ministers and officials in the department meet regularly with the OfS, stakeholders and representative bodies about a range of student experience issues including racism, hate crime and harassment in HE. This includes specific quarterly meetings with the OfS to discuss how to tackle harassment and hate crime, including racism within the sector.</p><p> </p><p>In its ministerial guidance, the government has asked the OfS to support this work and to make campuses places of tolerance for all students, and over £2 million has been invested in projects addressing hatred and harassment in HE.</p><p>The government will continue to work closely with the OfS to prioritise tackling of all forms of harassment and hate crime in higher education.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 16/07/2019 10:19:29 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138215

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Racial Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of reports of racism against students and staff in UK universities in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	275679
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The government takes all forms of hate crime extremely seriously. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or for any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>The government is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) to support work to address racism and other forms of harassment in higher education, including the implementation of UUK’s Taskforce recommendations. The government has also tasked the OfS to support this work, and over £2 million has been invested in projects tackling hatred and harassment.</p><p> </p><p>The department regularly meets stakeholders and representative bodies about student experience issues including racism, hate crime and harassment. Officials hold quarterly meetings with the OfS and UUK to discuss how to make progress on harassment and hate crime, including racism within the sector. In addition, I have recently held meetings with the Union of Jewish Students and Jewish student representatives about antisemitism on campus.</p><p> </p><p>The government expects providers to keep records of incidents disclosed to them and to act swiftly to investigate and address them. It is important to recognise that under-reporting is common. Higher education providers should look at how they can continue to break down barriers to reporting, in spite of the potential for it to lead to spikes in disclosures, and to make sure that students and staff feel safe and able to disclose racist incidents.</p><p> </p><p>Evaluation to date has shown that progress has been made but that there is still more to do. On 7 January 2019; I wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to welcome their Inquiry into Racial Harassment in Higher Education Institutions. I look forward to the new evidence that this inquiry will bring and will review its findings carefully.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 275680 question first answered 15/07/2019 12:42:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden