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1135835

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Housing
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 reduce the cost of university accommodation for students.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	271368
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Higher education providers are autonomous bodies, independent from the government; the government plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation.</p><p> </p><p>This government increased living costs support by 10.3% for eligible students on the lowest incomes in 2016/17. Further inflationary increases in living costs support have been made in each academic year since. We have announced a further 2.8% increase in loans for living costs for the 2019/20 academic year – to a record amount. Students from the lowest-income households starting their courses in the academic year 2018/19 had access to the largest ever amounts of cash-in-hand support for their living costs.</p><p> </p><p>The independent panel supporting the Post-18 Review of Education and Funding published their report on 30 May where they recommended the Office for Students examines the costs of student accommodation and works with students and providers to improve the quality and consistency of data about costs, rents, profits and quality. The government has not yet taken decisions on these recommendations but will consider the panel’s proposals and conclude the review at the Spending Review.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 08/07/2019 12:02:33 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1132027

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Health: Students
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve student wellbeing.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	264318
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why we continue to work closely with Universities UK on embedding the Step Change programme within the sector. Step Change calls on higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and adopt a whole-institution approach to mental health, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice.</p><p>In addition, the government actively backs the introduction of a sector-led University Mental Health Charter, launched in June 2018. This will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing and it will invite universities to meet high standards of practice, including in areas such as leadership, early intervention and data collection.</p><p>On 5 June 2019, the Office for Students announced the award of almost £6 million of funding for 10 large-scale projects through a challenge competition, encouraging higher education providers to find new ways of combating student mental health issues. The projects involve over 60 different universities, colleges and other organisations including NHS services, the police and charities, together contributing matched-funding taking the investment up to £14.5 million. <br> <br> Higher education providers have legal responsibilities under the Equality Act (2010) to support students, including those with mental health conditions. Whilst it is for providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support, the government is proactive in promoting good practice in this area.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 18/06/2019 15:03:55 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1125016

registered interest
date	07/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Fossil Fuels: Universities
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 encourage universities to divest from global coal, oil and gas companies.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	251208
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2019 answer text <p>Universities are autonomous from the government, so we do not specifically encourage them to divest from global coal, oil and gas companies.</p><p> </p><p>The government is committed to supporting the effective management of climate-related financial risks, and we have endorsed the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 13/05/2019 16:07:53 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1110356

registered interest
date	08/04/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Plagiarism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to prevent essay mills businesses from targeting university students.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	242015
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/04/2019 answer text <p>The use of companies that sell bespoke essays to students who pass the work off as their own undermines the reputation of the education system in this country and devalues the hard work of those succeeding on their own merit.</p><p> </p><p>The government has a clear expectation that educational institutions do everything in their power to prevent students being tempted by these companies. In a university context that may be through introducing initiatives such as honour codes, as well as making sure their students are aware of the severe consequences they face if they are caught cheating.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the department published an Education Technology strategy on 3 April which challenges technology companies to identify how anti-cheating software can tackle the growth of essay mills and stay one step ahead of the cheats. This strategy can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/realising-the-potential-of-technology-in-education" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/realising-the-potential-of-technology-in-education</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The government is supporting the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to put pressure on technology companies who readily facilitate the use of essay mills.</p><p> </p><p>On 20 March, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, challenged PayPal to stop processing payments for ‘essay mills’ as part of an accelerated drive to preserve and champion the quality of the UK’s world-leading higher education system.</p><p> </p><p>PayPal is now working with businesses associated with essay-writing services to ensure its platform is not used to facilitate deceptive and fraudulent practices in education.</p><p> </p><p>Google and YouTube have also responded by removing hundreds of advertisements for essay writing services and promotional content from their sites.</p><p> </p><p>This supports and furthers the 2017 efforts of the QAA and National Union of Students and Universities UK who responded to the government’s request to develop guidance for higher education providers on how to combat the threat of “contract cheating”.</p><p> </p><p>This guidance includes advice to higher education providers to consider blocking access to essay mills from computers and Wi-Fi systems on their property and disrupting essay mills’ opportunities to advertise by asking pamphlet distributers to leave their campuses and using their own social media and email accounts to contact their students, warning them about any detected contact from particular sites and companies and re-stressing the need for academic integrity.</p><p> </p><p>The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education in England. Through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, the government has given the OfS the power to take action if higher education providers are found to be, in any way, complicit in cheating. This includes imposing fines or ultimately de-registration, the highest possible punishment. The government remains open to the future need for additional legislation and will continue to investigate all options available.</p><p> </p><p>We are determined to beat the cheats who threaten the integrity of our higher education system.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 11/04/2019 15:59:58 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1093463

registered interest
date	22/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the financial sustainability of universities currently operating with a deficit.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	235738
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2019 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member for Coventry South to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne on 18 February 2019, to question <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&amp;max=20&amp;questiontype=AllQuestions&amp;house=commons%2clords&amp;uin=220252" target="_blank">220252</a>.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 27/03/2019 16:09:20 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1092121

registered interest
date	20/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Assessments: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to prevent (a) secondary and (b) university students from using essay-writing and other cheat services.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	234653
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>The use of companies that sell bespoke essays to students who pass the work off as their own undermines the reputation of the education system in this country, and devalues the hard work of those succeeding on their own merit.</p><p> </p><p>The government has a clear expectation that educational institutions do everything in their power to prevent students being tempted by these companies. In a university context that may be through introducing initiatives such as honour codes, and making sure their students are aware of the severe consequences they face if they are caught cheating.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the department will be publishing an Education Technology strategy in the spring which will include encouraging technology companies to identify how anti-cheating software can tackle the growth of essay mills and stay one step ahead of the cheats.</p><p> </p><p>The government is supporting the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to put pressure on technology companies who readily facilitate the use of essay mills. This supports and furthers the 2017 efforts of the QAA and National Union of Students and Universities UK who responded to the government’s request to develop guidance for higher education providers on how to combat the threat of “contract cheating”.</p><p> </p><p>The Office for Students is the independent regulator of higher education in England. Through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, the government has given the Office for Students the power to take action if higher education providers are found to be, in any way, complicit in cheating. This includes imposing fines or ultimately de-registration, the highest possible punishment. The government remains open to the future need for additional legislation, and will continue to investigate all options available.</p><p> </p><p>The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is the independent regulator of qualifications in England for secondary school pupils. In reformed GCSEs, AS and A levels Ofqual have significantly reduced the use of non-exam assessment - primarily permitting it only where the prescribed subject content cannot be assessed within an examination. This means that - in most subjects - a pupil could not use an essay writing service to gain an unfair advantage in an assessment.</p><p> </p><p>In all GCSEs, AS and A levels, Ofqual rules require exam boards to do all they can to prevent malpractice and maladministration when developing, delivering and awarding regulated qualifications, to investigate allegations and suspicions of malpractice when they arise and to impose appropriate sanctions when malpractice is confirmed.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 25/03/2019 17:57:03 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1077574

registered interest
date	26/02/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Sexual Harassment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions his Department has had with universities on steps they can take to reduce levels of sexual misconduct towards students.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	226034
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>The government takes any form of violence and sexual harassment, including in higher education, extremely seriously. The department meets with individual universities and representative bodies on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues relating to student welfare. In addition, the department holds regular meetings with Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) specifically on matters of sexual harassment and misconduct in higher education, including in relation to progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the UUK Taskforce’s on sexual violence, harassment and hate crime affecting university students.</p><p>Since the publication of these recommendations in 2016, a total investment of £4.7 million, match funded by higher education providers, has been invested by the OfS and its predecessor, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, in 119 safeguarding projects; £2.45 million of which was given to 63 projects specifically focussed on tackling sexual and gender-based violence in higher education. This work remains a priority for the department, which is why my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State’s guidance for the financial year 2019-20 asks the OfS to continue to support the student experience, including a focus on harassment and hate crime.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/03/2019 12:16:37 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1052227

registered interest
date	31/01/2019
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, what recent discussions his Department has held with representatives of UK universities on the use of unconditional offers for undergraduate courses.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	215082
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2019 answer text <p>We have made it clear to universities that we are concerned with the recent rapid increases in the numbers of unconditional offers being made. We have, consequently, asked the higher education regulator, the Office for Students, to review the practice and, where it identifies adverse impacts on students, to take action in accordance with its regulatory powers.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 05/02/2019 14:43:01 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1047771

registered interest
date	24/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support the mental health and well-being of postgraduate students in universities.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	212316
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/01/2019 answer text <p>Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why the government is working closely with Universities UK on embedding the Step Change programme within the sector. Step Change calls on higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority. Step Change also advocates a whole-institution approach to transform cultures and embed mental health initiatives beyond student services teams.</p><p>The former Higher Education Funding Council for England's Catalyst Fund also provided £1.5 million for 17 projects to improve the mental health of postgraduate research students. The Office for Students (OfS) is working with Research England to deliver this scheme.</p><p>This investment and the ongoing work of the OfS will support a range of activities. It will develop new practice for the pastoral support of postgraduate research students, and enhance training for their supervisors and other staff. Postgraduate research has different expectations and working practices to undergraduate work, so it will also help students adjust to the change.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 30/01/2019 15:39:00 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore previous answer version 98316 answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1027269

registered interest
date	17/12/2018
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, what discussions his Department has had with universities on the potential effect on the higher education sector of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	202704
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2018 answer text <p>​​The Department for Education regularly engages with a wide range of higher education (HE) stakeholders – involving universities and representative bodies such as Universities UK – at both ministerial and official levels to ensure we fully understand the sector’s priorities for EU exit, including in a no deal scenario.</p><p><br>This engagement includes the monthly High Level Stakeholder Working Group on EU Exit, Universities, Research and Innovation, which I chair as Minister for Higher Education and Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation.</p><p>​ <br>This group brings together voices from across the HE and research sector, and is also attended by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union. We value this close engagement and we want to maintain a dialogue with the sector as discussions on the UK’s future relationship with the EU progress.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 20/12/2018 15:43:24 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham