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1024869

	registered interest
	date	13/12/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps the Office for Students is taking to encourage universities to use unconditional and other alternative offers to widen participation by minority groups including those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Winchester
	uin	HL12310
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2018 answer text <p>​Widening participation is a priority for this government. We want to ensure that everyone with the potential to benefit from a university education has the opportunity to do so, regardless of their background or where they grew up. Significant progress has been made in recent years; in 2018, 18-year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds were 52% more likely to enter full-time higher education than in 2009.</p><p> </p><p>However, we have made clear our expectation that the Office for Students (OfS) will challenge universities to make greater progress in widening access and participation.</p><p> </p><p>For example, we have asked the OfS to explore further the use of contextual information in university admissions, such as whether an applicant comes from a low participation neighbourhood or attends a school that does not send many students to university.</p><p> </p><p>​We expect universities to use unconditional offers responsibly. There are cases where the use of unconditional offers can be justified, however the systematic use of unconditional offers is not in the interest of students.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 20/12/2018 17:05:52 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4256 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Winchester

775991

	registered interest
	date	23/10/2017
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to increase the diversity of the undergraduate body of students at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
	tabling member printed	Lord Storey
	uin	HL2399
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2017 answer text <p>Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are entering at record rates to the most selective universities. There are also record entry rates across all ethnic groups.</p><p>The guidance to the Director of Fair Access (DfA), published in February 2016, asked for the most selective institutions, to make faster progress on widening access, and to ensure their outreach is more focused. This report can be found in the attached document.</p><p>The DfA has agreed access agreements for 2018/19 with plans for universities to spend more than £860 million on measures to continue to support improving access and student success for students from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds, up significantly from £404 million in 2009. We are introducing sweeping reforms through legislation. The Higher Education and Research Act includes a transparency duty requiring all universities to publish applications, offers, and acceptance and retention rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and social economic background. This will help to hold them to account for their performance on access and retention. In addition, we expect all universities, particularly the most selective, to help raise attainment and support school improvement, including through school sponsorship and by establishing new state schools.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 06/11/2017 18:00:41 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1010103

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions the Department for Education is having with the Russell Group of universities regarding adding music to their list of facilitating subjects.
	tabling member printed	Lord Black of Brentwood
	uin	HL11550
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2018 answer text <p>Universities are autonomous from government, and consequently control the criteria used to determine admissions. We are aware that the Russell Group, which comprises 24 of the UK’s leading universities, publishes guidance designed to assist applicants in identifying the A level subjects most likely to facilitate entry to one of their member universities. From engagement with the Russell Group, we understand they are currently reviewing their guidance. The department recognises the importance of arts subjects, including music, and students’ ability to make informed choices is at the heart of our recent reforms to higher education. We are increasing the information available to students to ensure they can make informed choices about what and where to study.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 03/12/2018 11:53:35 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4171 label Biography information for Lord Black of Brentwood

1078958

	registered interest
	date	27/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 3 December 2018 (HL11550), what further discussions have taken place between the Department for Education and the Russell Group of universities regarding adding music to their list of facilitating subjects; and what progress has been made in that regard.
	tabling member printed	Lord Black of Brentwood
	uin	HL14081
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2019 answer text <p>This government recognises the importance of arts subjects, including music. Universities are autonomous from government and consequently control the criteria used to determine admissions. We are aware that the Russell Group, which comprises 24 of the UK’s leading universities, publish guidance designed to assist applicants in identifying the A level subjects most likely to facilitate entry to one of their member universities. From engagement with the Russell Group, we understand they are currently reviewing their guidance.</p><p>The ability for students to make informed choices is at the heart of our recent reforms to higher education. We are increasing the information available to students to ensure they can make informed choices about what and where to study.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 11/03/2019 15:05:34 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4171 label Biography information for Lord Black of Brentwood

1081642

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 28 February (HL13946), whether there are regulations that cover the reversal of prior conditional offers of places to students who were subsequently deemed to have satisfied previously advertised admissions criteria for their intended course; if so, what they are; and whether recommendations were made to the Office for Students to the effect that students whose offer of a place on their intended course had been reversed should instead be unconditionally offered a place on a different course at the same institution, for which the student concerned had not originally applied.
	tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
	uin	HL14175
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2019 answer text <p>There are no such regulations, and no recommendations have been made to the Office for Students (OfS) to that effect.</p><p>In relation to undergraduate admissions, once an offer has been made and accepted by a prospective student, a contract is formed between the higher education provider and the student. This is certainly the view of the Competition and Markets Authority, as set out on page 31 of its guidance to higher education providers on consumer law dated 12 March 2015, and it is already a condition of registration imposed by the OfS that registered providers must give due regard to relevant guidance on how to comply with consumer law. Given this, we do not see the need for any additional regulation to protect students against the potential withdrawal of an offer they have already accepted.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 18/03/2019 11:30:19 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

672306

	registered interest
	date	12/01/2017
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which students have been admitted to Russell Group universities having had their prior learning from other institutions accredited to allow entry mid-course; and what evidence they used to support that assessment.
	tabling member printed	Lord Willis of Knaresborough
	uin	HL4643
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/01/2017 answer text <p>The Higher Education Funding Council for England and Higher Education Statistics Agency do not gather information on students who have had their prior learning from other institutions accredited to allow entry mid-course. The issue of improving understanding of student transfer was raised during our recent the call for evidence on <em>Accelerated Courses and Switching University or Degree. </em>We received over 4,500 responses to this and published a summary of the evidence we gathered on 20 December 2016.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 19/01/2017 16:22:02 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4151 label Biography information for Lord Willis of Knaresborough

1064782

	registered interest
	date	21/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 20 February (HL13570), whether the recommendations they made to the Office for Students to reduce the numbers of unconditional offers included reversing prior offers of places to students who already satisfied previously advertised admissions criteria.
	tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
	uin	HL13946
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Education has not made any recommendations to the Office for Students (OfS) to reverse prior offers of places to students who already satisfied previously advertised admissions criteria.</p><p>We have made clear to the OfS that they should use the full range of powers at their disposal to take action where an institution cannot justify their rising numbers of unconditional offers. However, we recognise that where a student already has relevant entry level qualifications, and for some creative arts subjects, unconditional offers may be justified. Admissions are a matter of institutional autonomy but we expect universities to make their admissions criteria fair, accessible and transparent.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 28/02/2019 17:50:27 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

600523

	registered interest
	date	12/10/2016
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many English state school pupils applying to UK universities for undergraduate study in 2015–16 did not have (1) maths GCSE, (2) English GCSE, and (3) either maths or English GCSE, at C grade or above.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Wolf of Dulwich
	uin	HL2276
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/11/2016 answer text <p>Information on the GCSE grades of Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS) applicants and applicants being accepted to UK universities is not held centrally. The information is held internally by UCAS.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie grouped question UIN HL2277 question first answered 07/11/2016 13:50:44 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4347 label Biography information for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich

600524

	registered interest
	date	12/10/2016
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many English state school pupils accepting offers of an undergraduate place made by UK universities in 2015–16 did not have (1) maths GCSE, (2) English GCSE, and (3) either maths or English GCSE, at C grade or above.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Wolf of Dulwich
	uin	HL2277
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/11/2016 answer text <p>Information on the GCSE grades of Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS) applicants and applicants being accepted to UK universities is not held centrally. The information is held internally by UCAS.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie grouped question UIN HL2276 question first answered 07/11/2016 13:50:44 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4347 label Biography information for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich

1059175

	registered interest
	date	11/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation on 28 March 2018 (HC Deb, col 408WH) about unconditional university offers and autonomy over admissions, what data they hold on the number of students with offers for study at British universities with admission for deferred entry who were contacted by the Admissions and Access Service of those universities to indicate that they would no longer be offered their intended course; what assessment they have made of the cost implications that such decisions hold for each prospective student who as a result may be obliged to pursue their intended studies further afield; and what compensatory arrangements they consider to be appropriate for the failure to honour such places offered to students who satisfied previously advertised admissions criteria.
	tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
	uin	HL13570
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2019 answer text <p>Higher Education institutions are independent, autonomous bodies. As such, they are responsible for their own admissions decisions.</p><p> </p><p>Data on the number of applicants with offers for deferred entry who were no longer offered their intended course is not held centrally. Consequently, no assessment has been made of the cost implications to prospective students in this scenario.</p><p> </p><p>We are concerned by the steep rise in the number of unconditional offers being made to students. Where institutions cannot justify the rising numbers being offered we have made clear to the Office for Students that they should use the full range of powers at their disposal to take action. We expect universities to act responsibly when setting admissions criteria and expect admissions to be fair, accessible and transparent.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 20/02/2019 17:25:18 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool