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1168289

registered interest
date	19/12/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academic Freedom
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take to promote (a) diversity of thought and (b) freedom of expression on university campuses.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	87
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/01/2020 answer text <p>This government will ensure that our universities are places where free speech can thrive, and will strengthen academic freedoms.</p><p>The freedom to express views openly, challenge ideas and engage in robust debate is crucial to the student experience and to democracy. Individuals should never be in a position where they can be stopped from, or are made to feel inhibited in, expressing an opinion perfectly lawfully. Similarly, universities should be places where students are exposed to a range of views, including those which may be controversial, and are encouraged to debate and challenge them.</p><p>Free speech is protected in universities by law and is embedded in the Office for Students’ Regulatory Framework. Under the Education (No 2) Act 1986, universities have a specific duty to take reasonably practicable steps to secure freedom of speech within the law for staff, students and visiting speakers. The government worked with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, who published new guidance in February 2019 on freedom of speech in higher education to support higher education providers and students’ unions in delivering their duties.</p><p>The government will be looking closely at how well higher education providers are meeting these obligations and will consider whether further action is needed, working with a range of partners.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 07/01/2020 16:24:03 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1167683

registered interest
date	31/10/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Loans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the amount owed is in respect of loans for (a) tuition fees and (b) living costs to date; and what projections his Department has made of the amounts owed in respect of each of those loans in (i) 2025, (ii) 2030, (iii) 2040 and (iv) 2050.
tabling member constituency	Ludlow
tabling member printed	Mr Philip Dunne
uin	8237
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>At the end of the 2018-19 financial year, the total outstanding loan balance was £121.8 billion[1].</p><p> </p><p>This figure includes all loan products and covers borrowers who received loans as English</p><p> </p><p>domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in England.</p><p> </p><p>The corresponding forecasts are detailed in table 1 (attached).</p><p> </p><p>The information by product (maintenance loans/tuition fee loans) is not readily available</p><p>and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>[1] Source: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2018-to-2019" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2018-to-2019</a>. (Table 1A)</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/11/2019 17:23:21 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore attachment 1 file name 8237_total)outstanding_balance_at_the_start_of_the_financial_year.pdf title 8237_PDF
tabling member	1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne

1167684

registered interest
date	31/10/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Loans
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 whether it is possible to replace tuition fees with maintenance grants and be cost-neutral to the public purse; and whether there would need to be a reduction in the number of student places to achieve that change in the current spending round.
tabling member constituency	Ludlow
tabling member printed	Mr Philip Dunne
uin	8238
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>Taxpayers subsidise around 50% of the cost of higher education. The cost of the student finance system is a function of 3 main parameters: (i) the number of students supported, (ii) the level of resource per student and (iii) the terms of the funding (for example the balance of loan vs. grant funding) provided to students and institutions. Changing any of these parameters, for example by reintroducing maintenance grants, will require changes either or both of the other 2 if the outcome is to be cost neutral.</p><p>The Institute for Fiscal Studies has recently published illustrative estimates of the potential cost to HM Treasury of abolishing tuition fees. This can be found here: <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14369" target="_blank">https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14369</a>.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/11/2019 17:32:02 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne

1167685

registered interest
date	31/10/2019
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, how many more students have attended university since the cap on student numbers was lifted; and what recent assessment his Department has made of whether there has been an increase in the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds attending university since that cap was lifted.
tabling member constituency	Ludlow
tabling member printed	Mr Philip Dunne
uin	8239
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>In 2013, the government announced that the student number controls at publicly funded higher education institutions in England would be removed by 2015/16. This was preceded by a relaxation of student number controls for AAB students, who were made exempt from 2012/13, and ABB students, who were exempt from 2013/14.</p><p>Student number controls applied to full-time undergraduate students at English higher education institutions who were domiciled in the UK or European Union prior to study.</p><p>The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on students enrolled in higher education institutions in England. Time series for UK and EU domiciled full-time undergraduate entrants at higher education institutions in England have been provided in the table.</p><p> </p><p><strong>UK and EU domiciled full-time undergraduate entrants </strong></p><p><strong>English Higher Education Institutions</strong></p><p><strong>Academic years 2011/12 to 2017/8</strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Academic year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011/12</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015/16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016/17</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017/18</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total entrants</p></td><td><p>389,575</p></td><td><p>334,820</p></td><td><p>362,910</p></td><td><p>373,950</p></td><td><p>387,610</p></td><td><p>395,485</p></td><td><p>393,675</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record 2011/12 to 2017/18</em></p><p> </p><p><em>Note: (1) Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest multiple of five.</em></p><p><em>(2) Entrants refers to first year students.</em></p><p> </p><p>The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publish data on the proportion of disadvantaged 18-year-olds from England accepted to full-time higher education. In 2018 there were a record proportion of disadvantaged 18-year-olds from England accepted onto full-time higher education courses.</p><p><strong>Entry rates for English disadvantaged 18 year olds</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Application cycle</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Disadvantaged entry rate</p></td><td><p>14.4%</p></td><td><p>14.4%</p></td><td><p>15.6%</p></td><td><p>17.0%</p></td><td><p>18.0%</p></td><td><p>18.9%</p></td><td><p>19.9%</p></td><td><p>20.2%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><em>Source: UCAS End of Cycle report 2018 </em></p><p> </p><p><em>Note: The disadvantage measure refers to POLAR Quintile 1. POLAR is an area-based measure of educational disadvantage.</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/11/2019 17:12:21 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne

1167359

registered interest
date	30/10/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Department for Education: Digital Technology
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who is responsible for digitisation in his Department; and what mechanisms the person with responsibility for digitisation uses to champion digitisation.
tabling member constituency	North Norfolk
tabling member printed	Norman Lamb
uin	7660
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Chief Digital Officer (CDO), Emma Stace, is responsible for leading Digital Delivery across the Department for Education (DfE).</p><p> </p><p>The DfE Transformation Aims involve promoting user-centred, end-to-end service design and delivery across the whole department.</p><p> </p><p>The CDO and policy directors have jointly sponsored scoping work to identify opportunities for the development of digital services to deliver better outcomes for our users and continue the transformation of DfE into a service delivery department.</p><p> </p><p>The Digital, Data and Technology (DDT) Directorates within DfE are supporting the government-wide focus on the development of “digital maturity”, developing the department’s processes, tools, infrastructure and capabilities. In support of this, the CDO is promoting the development of the community of service owners, sharing experience and best practice and identifying how the DfE can continue to develop to better support the development and delivery of digital services. This includes work to grow and develop DDT capability across the department, including through improving recruitment, training and procurement.</p><p> </p><p>The DfE works with the Government Digital Service to provide assurance against the Government Service Standards, to ensure that the services being delivered are high quality, user centred, and delivering value to users.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/11/2019 14:28:06 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb

1167014

registered interest
date	29/10/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Department for Education: International Men's Day
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to mark International Men's Day on 19 November 2019.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	7093
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>No one should suffer unfair treatment because of their gender. Every year International Men’s Day offers an opportunity to highlight how outcomes for men and boys can be improved and to talk about some of the important work going on every day across the government to do this.</p><p> </p><p>The work ranges from the introduction of shared parental leave, which allows men to take time away from the workplace and bond with their new children, benefitting that crucial long-term relationship for both parent and child, to our programme tackling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender bullying in schools which seeks to protect those who may be victimised.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the Department’s Diversity and Inclusion calendar, one of our monthly awareness months focused on Men’s Health and Wellbeing. Colleagues were encouraged to talk about issues and to challenge some of the cultural norms around what it means to be vulnerable.</p><p> </p><p>The government is also working with local authorities to ensure their suicide prevention plans support more men and in the Domestic Abuse Bill we propose to create a statutory definition of domestic abuse that makes clear men also can be victims of this abhorrent crime.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/11/2019 17:51:08 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

1166771

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his oral answer of 9 September 2019, Official Report, column 476, which higher education institutions the Government is working closely with; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the diversity of (a) the higher education sector and (b) small and specialist education institutions in the event of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	6219
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Education is working closely with higher education (HE) representative bodies – including Universities UK, GuildHE, Independent HE, Russell Group and others, representing the full spectrum of HE providers across the UK – to ensure we communicate the government’s Brexit guidance, including on No Deal, effectively to providers. Through the Office for Students, we have also communicated guidance to all HE providers on its register for providers.</p><p>On 28 October, we updated our GOV.UK page to help providers understand the action they need to take. This links to wider government guidance on the range of issues providers need to consider, from helping EU staff and students to continue living in the UK after 2020 to how to register for the government’s guarantee on Erasmus+ funding. This page can be found here and we will continue to keep it updated: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-higher-education-institutions/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-higher-education-institutions" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-higher-education-institutions/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-higher-education-institutions</a>.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/11/2019 17:39:59 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1166877

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Loans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total interest paid on student loans was in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	South West Surrey
tabling member printed	Mr Jeremy Hunt
uin	6320
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Student Loans Company does not distinguish between capital and interest when allocating repayments to a student’s account. It is not possible therefore to identify separately the total interest repaid.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 31/10/2019 15:11:44 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1572 label Biography information for Jeremy Hunt

1156226

registered interest
date	24/10/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Loans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of extending student loan eligibility to people in prison who have more than six years to run on their sentence.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	4940
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2019 answer text <p>Prisoners set to be released within 6 years have been eligible for tuition fee loans with the consent of the prison authorities. There are no plans to change this policy.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 30/10/2019 19:41:06 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

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