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1151855

	registered interest
	date	23/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Racial Harassment
	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 implications for his policies of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled, Tackling harassment: universities challenged; and what steps he is taking to ensure that university staff receive adequate training to deal effectively with racial harassment.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	4286
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>Racial harassment is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education (HE) – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.</p><p>As independent institutions, HE providers are responsible for training and development opportunities available for their staff. We encourage providers to make use of tools such as the Race Equality Charter and the Race at Work Charter to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that affect minority ethnic staff and students.</p><p>We will continue to work closely with partners, including Universities UK and the Office for Students on matters of harassment and hate crime in HE.</p><p>The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers recognises the need to create and develop positive environments and cultures in which all researchers can flourish and achieve their full potential. This includes having effective policies and practice for tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment and providing appropriate support for those reporting issues.</p><p>By improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff within HE we can ensure that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, both as a student and as a member of staff, does so.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 28/10/2019 13:37:32 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1151822

	registered interest
	date	23/10/2019
	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 steps he is taking to ensure that universities investigate all complaints made by students and staff about racism at universities.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	4262
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>Racial harassment is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education (HE) – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.</p><p> </p><p>HE providers in England are independent and autonomous. They are responsible for addressing student complaints and for meeting their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010. The government expects providers to discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to handle student complaints, comply with the law and to investigate and swiftly address incidents reported to them.</p><p> </p><p>Where a student complaint cannot be resolved through the institution’s complaint processes, the student can ask for their complaint to be reviewed by the Office for the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for HE in England. As a result of the government‘s recent HE reforms, all HE providers on the HE Regulator’s register, the Office for Students (OfS), are required to join the OIA.</p><p>The government will continue to work closely with partners, including Universities UK and the OfS, to drive progress on matters of racial harassment in HE.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 28/10/2019 13:57:49 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1151938

	registered interest
	date	23/10/2019
	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 steps the Government is taking to protect university staff from racial abuse.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	4255
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Racial harassment is unacceptable, and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.</p><p>Higher education providers are independent and autonomous organisations. Like all employers, higher education providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act (2010) in relation to their staff. We expect them discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, and to investigate and swiftly address all hate crime.</p><p>We encourage providers to make use of tools such as the Race Equality Charter and the Race at Work Charter to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that affect minority ethnic staff and students.</p><p> </p><p>The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers recognises the need to create and develop positive environments and cultures in which all researchers can flourish and achieve their full potential. This includes having effective policies and practice for tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment and providing appropriate support for those reporting issues.</p><p>By improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff within higher education we can ensure that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, both as a student and as a member of staff, does so.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 29/10/2019 17:47:08 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1170258

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Fossil Fuels
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government is proactively encouraging universities to divest from fossil fuel based activities.
	tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
	tabling member printed	Catherine West
	uin	2580
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>The government wants the public and higher education sectors to lead by example through reducing energy use and driving decarbonisation across the UK economy. Last year I published an article calling on Universities to lead the climate change debate:</p><p><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/climate-change-carbon-neutral_uk_5d08a9cae4b0ea7c4a4f220b" target="_blank">https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/climate-change-carbon-neutral_uk_5d08a9cae4b0ea7c4a4f220b</a>.</p><p>It is an important issue for universities to consider and we will continue to engage with them on this.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 16/01/2020 17:01:05 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1172021

	registered interest
	date	20/01/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Fire Regulations
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many university vice-chancellors have replied to his letter of November 2019 on the issue of fire safety procedures and safeguards across university residential, teaching and research accommodation.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Steve Reed
	uin	5444
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2020 answer text <p>We are pleased to see that the engagement with the letter of 18 November from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to all 138 higher education institutions has had a 100% response rate.</p><p>The safety of pupils, students and staff remains ministers’ highest priority. Since the Grenfell fire, the department has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as part of the cross government programme to remediate buildings with potentially dangerous cladding, including student accommodation. That approach will continue, and we welcome the package of measures to improve building safety standards announced on 20 January by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. We are already looking at ways to ensure the education estate complies fully with the updated advice to building owners, announced as part of that package, on actions they should take in relation to cladding.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 5445 question first answered 28/01/2020 17:46:00 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1174279

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Fire Regulations
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2020 to Question 5444, on Universities: Fire Regulations, whether his Department holds data on the number of university residential, teaching and research accommodation buildings over 18 metres in height that have (a) ACM cladding and (b) other forms of combustible cladding.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Steve Reed
	uin	9697
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2020 answer text <p>The safety of students and staff across the education estate remains ministers' highest priority. Since the Grenfell fire, the department has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on fire safety. In line with that cross-government approach, we identified university-owned residential buildings over 18 metres with potentially dangerous ACM cladding. In the light of updated building safety guidance for owners of residential buildings published on 20 January by MHCLG, the department will gather any additional information required on residential buildings across the education estate, and will continue to work with building owners to ensure that any subsequent remediation work, if any, is undertaken.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 9698 question first answered 07/02/2020 10:09:29 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1174280

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Fire Regulations
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2020 to Question 5444, on Universities: Fire Regulations, whether his Department holds data on the number of university residential, teaching and research accommodation buildings below 18 metres in height that have (a) ACM cladding and (b) other forms of combustible cladding.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Steve Reed
	uin	9698
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2020 answer text <p>The safety of students and staff across the education estate remains ministers' highest priority. Since the Grenfell fire, the department has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on fire safety. In line with that cross-government approach, we identified university-owned residential buildings over 18 metres with potentially dangerous ACM cladding. In the light of updated building safety guidance for owners of residential buildings published on 20 January by MHCLG, the department will gather any additional information required on residential buildings across the education estate, and will continue to work with building owners to ensure that any subsequent remediation work, if any, is undertaken.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 9697 question first answered 07/02/2020 10:09:29 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1172332

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Equality
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that universities use universally accessible (a) student surveys and (b) data collection processes to monitor university compliance with equality charters; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	6062
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2020 answer text <p>Higher education providers (HEPs) are independent and autonomous institutions. While we recognise the work of Advance HE and the value that both the Race Equality and Athena Swan charters bring to the sector the government does not compel HEPs to participate in equality charters.</p><p> </p><p>However, progress on addressing both gender and racial equality in HE has been unacceptably slow, particularly for minority ethnic staff securing senior university leadership positions. It is essential that HEPs urgently address those institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of women and minority ethnic staff and students so that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, does so.</p><p> </p><p>The government has brought forward sweeping reforms of higher education to tackle equality of opportunity through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (HERA). This includes a mandatory condition of registration which, for the first time, requires all higher education providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) to publish data including the number of applications for admissions, offers made and acceptance rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background. The OfS has issued guidance to higher education providers on how to comply with the transparency condition.</p><p>The OfS has also made available online an interactive dashboard of data, which will help to evaluate access and participation at specific universities and colleges. The dashboard can be used to compare different student groups (for example, disabled students or students by their ethnic background) and their peers, and reveal gaps in access, continuation, success and progression. More information is available at the link:</p><p><a href="https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/guide-to-the-access-and-participation-data-resources" target="_blank">https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/guide-to-the-access-and-participation-data-resources</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 29/01/2020 17:23:26 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1171440

	registered interest
	date	16/01/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Assessments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a nation-wide accreditation scheme for university grades.
	tabling member constituency	South Antrim
	tabling member printed	Paul Girvan
	uin	4466
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2020 answer text <p>The government has set a clear expectation that universities must use their awarding powers responsibly and must not inflate grades for their own reputation or league table ranking. It is vital that students, graduates and the public are confident in the value of a university degree.</p><p>UK higher education providers with degree-awarding powers are responsible for the academic standards of their awards. Providers are held to account through the UK Quality Code for Higher Education which requires providers to use external expertise, assessment and classification processes that are reliable, fair, and transparent.</p><p>The sector has agreed to recognise new standards for all degree classifications. These set out what criteria students need to meet in order to achieve each level of classification of Bachelor’s degree with honours qualifications, helping to ensure degree standards are reliable and reflect the level of a student’s achievements.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 24/01/2020 11:45:40 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4633 label Biography information for Paul Girvan

1150974

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2019
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of unconditional university offers on the motivation of students.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Edgbaston
	tabling member printed	Preet Kaur Gill
	uin	2921
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2019 answer text <p>The department is concerned about an increase in unconditional offers, in particular conditional unconditional offers, and any adverse impact they may be having on students’ motivation and restricting student choice. The independent regulatory body for higher education, the Office for Students (OfS), will be monitoring types of offers and their impact as part of its wider review of admissions, which is underway.</p><p>The OfS has powers set down in legislation to take action if it has evidence that a higher education provider is acting in a way that harms the prospects of students, through restricting the choice and opportunity available to them, or failing to deliver successful outcomes.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 24/10/2019 14:23:59 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4603 label Biography information for Preet Kaur Gill