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1137411

registered interest
date	08/07/2019
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making additional indicators of pupils’ disadvantage and under-representation in higher education accessible to universities in order to support their widening participation and access work.
tabling member constituency	Doncaster North
tabling member printed	Edward Miliband
uin	274475
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Widening access and participation in higher education (HE) is a priority for the government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in HE should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background.</p><p>The government has made progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18 year olds in HE. However, we are aware that more needs to be done to support access and participation in HE, so it is vital that we continue to build on this progress.</p><p>HE providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage and under-representation in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation in HE.</p><p>We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage and under-representation, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as Participation of Local Areas data, Index of Multiple Deprivation or ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service's (UCAS) Multiple Equality Measure and participation in outreach activities. The department is continuing to work with the Office for Students, UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 274476 question first answered 15/07/2019 15:19:19 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1510 label Biography information for Edward Miliband

1127220

registered interest
date	16/05/2019
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 discussions he has had with representatives of (a) universities and (b) the education sector on sharing data on an applicant's (i) pupil premium status and (ii) ethnicity directly with universities for the purpose of widening access and participation in higher education.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	255277
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for this government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background or where they grew up.</p><p> </p><p>We have made real progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18 year olds in higher education. However, we know that more needs to be done to maximise the potential of the talent of future applicants to higher education courses, so it is vital that we build on this progress.</p><p> </p><p>Higher education providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation in higher education. We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as POLAR, Index of Multiple Deprivation or ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service's (UCAS) multiple equality measure and participation in outreach activities.</p><p>To this end, we are working with the Office for Students, UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.</p><p> </p><p>We want institutions to consider a broad range of information in their offers, including the context in which a student’s results were achieved. We are committed to helping universities progress in their efforts to improve access and successful participation for under-represented groups.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 255278 255279 255280 question first answered 21/05/2019 15:57:19 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1127221

registered interest
date	16/05/2019
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 discussions he has had with (a) the Office for Students and (b) UCAS on the transmission of data on an applicant's (i) pupil premium status and (ii) ethnicity directly to universities for the purpose widening access and participation in higher education.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	255278
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for this government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background or where they grew up.</p><p> </p><p>We have made real progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18 year olds in higher education. However, we know that more needs to be done to maximise the potential of the talent of future applicants to higher education courses, so it is vital that we build on this progress.</p><p> </p><p>Higher education providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation in higher education. We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as POLAR, Index of Multiple Deprivation or ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service's (UCAS) multiple equality measure and participation in outreach activities.</p><p>To this end, we are working with the Office for Students, UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.</p><p> </p><p>We want institutions to consider a broad range of information in their offers, including the context in which a student’s results were achieved. We are committed to helping universities progress in their efforts to improve access and successful participation for under-represented groups.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 255277 255279 255280 question first answered 21/05/2019 15:57:19 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1127222

registered interest
date	16/05/2019
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, if he will make an assessment of how additional indicators of a pupil's disadvantage and under-representation in higher education can be made accessible to universities in order to widen participation and help such pupils access work.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	255279
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for this government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background or where they grew up.</p><p> </p><p>We have made real progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18 year olds in higher education. However, we know that more needs to be done to maximise the potential of the talent of future applicants to higher education courses, so it is vital that we build on this progress.</p><p> </p><p>Higher education providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation in higher education. We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as POLAR, Index of Multiple Deprivation or ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service's (UCAS) multiple equality measure and participation in outreach activities.</p><p>To this end, we are working with the Office for Students, UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.</p><p> </p><p>We want institutions to consider a broad range of information in their offers, including the context in which a student’s results were achieved. We are committed to helping universities progress in their efforts to improve access and successful participation for under-represented groups.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 255277 255278 255280 question first answered 21/05/2019 15:57:19 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1127223

registered interest
date	16/05/2019
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 he has made an assessment of the extent to which sharing data on additional indicators of an applicant’s disadvantage and under-representation in higher education, including pupil premium status, free school meals eligibility and ethnicity can enable universities to make further progress on widening access and participation in higher education.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	255280
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for this government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background or where they grew up.</p><p> </p><p>We have made real progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18 year olds in higher education. However, we know that more needs to be done to maximise the potential of the talent of future applicants to higher education courses, so it is vital that we build on this progress.</p><p> </p><p>Higher education providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation in higher education. We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as POLAR, Index of Multiple Deprivation or ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service's (UCAS) multiple equality measure and participation in outreach activities.</p><p>To this end, we are working with the Office for Students, UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.</p><p> </p><p>We want institutions to consider a broad range of information in their offers, including the context in which a student’s results were achieved. We are committed to helping universities progress in their efforts to improve access and successful participation for under-represented groups.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 255277 255278 255279 question first answered 21/05/2019 15:57:19 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1086732

registered interest
date	11/03/2019
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	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 universities of Oxford and Cambridge on the implications of the findings of the Sutton Trust report on Access to Advantage for his Department's policies.
tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
tabling member printed	Justin Madders
uin	230819
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2019 answer text <p>Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for this government. Everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to benefit from a university education, regardless of background or where they grew up.</p><p> </p><p>This year, record rates of English 18 year olds, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, have entered full-time university. However, more could and should be done. That is why in our recent guidance to the Office for Students, we asked them to continue in its efforts to secure greater and faster progress in ensuring that students from disadvantaged and under-represented groups can access and successfully participate in higher education, including at the most selective providers.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, a new transparency condition requires higher education providers to publish application, offer, acceptance, non-continuation and attainment rates by socio-economic background, gender and ethnicity. It will provide greater transparency and help drive fairness on admissions and outcomes.</p><p> </p><p>Prior attainment is a critical factor, and the government has asked higher education providers to take on a more direct role in helping to raise attainment in schools as part of their outreach activity. All providers are expected to help raise attainment and support school improvement, including through school sponsorship and by establishing new state schools.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 19/03/2019 15:46:51 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders

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

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

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

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