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1138215

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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 assessment he has made of trends in the level of reports of racism against students and staff in UK universities in the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	275679
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The government takes all forms of hate crime extremely seriously. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or for any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>The government is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) to support work to address racism and other forms of harassment in higher education, including the implementation of UUK’s Taskforce recommendations. The government has also tasked the OfS to support this work, and over £2 million has been invested in projects tackling hatred and harassment.</p><p> </p><p>The department regularly meets stakeholders and representative bodies about student experience issues including racism, hate crime and harassment. Officials hold quarterly meetings with the OfS and UUK to discuss how to make progress on harassment and hate crime, including racism within the sector. In addition, I have recently held meetings with the Union of Jewish Students and Jewish student representatives about antisemitism on campus.</p><p> </p><p>The government expects providers to keep records of incidents disclosed to them and to act swiftly to investigate and address them. It is important to recognise that under-reporting is common. Higher education providers should look at how they can continue to break down barriers to reporting, in spite of the potential for it to lead to spikes in disclosures, and to make sure that students and staff feel safe and able to disclose racist incidents.</p><p> </p><p>Evaluation to date has shown that progress has been made but that there is still more to do. On 7 January 2019; I wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to welcome their Inquiry into Racial Harassment in Higher Education Institutions. I look forward to the new evidence that this inquiry will bring and will review its findings carefully.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 275680 question first answered 15/07/2019 12:42:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138218

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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 discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with representatives from (i) Universities UK, (ii) other education sector bodies, (iii) trades unions representing staff, (iv) student unions and (v) NUS on the effect of incidences of racism directed at their members in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	275680
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The government takes all forms of hate crime extremely seriously. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for hatred or for any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>The government is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) and the Office for Students (OfS) to support work to address racism and other forms of harassment in higher education, including the implementation of UUK’s Taskforce recommendations. The government has also tasked the OfS to support this work, and over £2 million has been invested in projects tackling hatred and harassment.</p><p> </p><p>The department regularly meets stakeholders and representative bodies about student experience issues including racism, hate crime and harassment. Officials hold quarterly meetings with the OfS and UUK to discuss how to make progress on harassment and hate crime, including racism within the sector. In addition, I have recently held meetings with the Union of Jewish Students and Jewish student representatives about antisemitism on campus.</p><p> </p><p>The government expects providers to keep records of incidents disclosed to them and to act swiftly to investigate and address them. It is important to recognise that under-reporting is common. Higher education providers should look at how they can continue to break down barriers to reporting, in spite of the potential for it to lead to spikes in disclosures, and to make sure that students and staff feel safe and able to disclose racist incidents.</p><p> </p><p>Evaluation to date has shown that progress has been made but that there is still more to do. On 7 January 2019; I wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to welcome their Inquiry into Racial Harassment in Higher Education Institutions. I look forward to the new evidence that this inquiry will bring and will review its findings carefully.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 275679 question first answered 15/07/2019 12:42:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138222

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Higher Education: Equality
	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 adequacy of equality and diversity training provided by higher education institutions; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making that training mandatory.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	275681
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The government is committed to tackling inequalities. That is why, in October 2018, my right. hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, launched measures to tackle barriers facing ethnic minorities in the workplace, including a new Race at Work Charter and a consultation on ethnicity pay reporting.</p><p>Like all employers, higher education providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act (2010) in relation to their staff. The government expects providers to comply fully with their obligations. As autonomous and independent institutions, it is for individual providers to ensure that the training they provide is appropriate.</p><p>The Equality Challenge Unit (part of Advance HE) has published guidance for higher education providers on embedding equality and diversity into HR policies. The Race Equality Charter also helps higher education providers to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of minority ethnic staff and students. The Athena SWAN Charter recognises work undertaken to address gender equality.</p><p>The regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), and its predecessor, have provided over £4.7 million in funding for projects tackling sexual harassment, online harassment and hate-based harassment. This includes projects with a focus on developing and providing training for both staff and students on matters such as bystander intervention and handling of reports and disclosures.</p><p>In guidance to the OfS, the government has asked the regulator to positively engage with work to counter harassment and hate-crime and to make campuses places of tolerance for all students, and work with providers on equalities issues.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 12:23:39 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1138223

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Ethnic Groups
	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 adequacy of the (a) terms and conditions for, (b) recruitment and (c) career advancement of BAME members of staff at UK universities.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	275682
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Despite recent progress in staff representation and progression, for example improvements in the number of women in leadership positions in higher education (HE), there is more to be done to create a HE workforce that is representative of British society.</p><p>On 1 February 2019, the government announced measures to tackle inequalities and improve outcomes for underrepresented groups in HE. These measures include asking the HE sector to take action to eliminate ethnic disparities in their workforce and support better outcomes for ethnic minority staff. UK Research and Innovation will also be commissioning a review to understand and address equality and diversity disparities in research and innovation funding.</p><p> </p><p>HE providers are independent, autonomous bodies and are responsible for decisions about who they employ and the terms and conditions of employment they offer. Like every employer they must meet their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and give due consideration to the way their recruitment, retention and promotion practises affect different sections of their communities and staff at different stages of their career.</p><p> </p><p>The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers states that ‘diversity and equality must be promoted in all aspects of the recruitment and career management of researchers’. We expect to see this commitment reinforced as a revised Concordat is published in Autumn 2019.</p><p> </p><p>The Race Equality Charter also helps HE providers to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that may be impacting on minority ethnic staff and students. 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><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 13:44:41 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1131200

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Doctors: Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of the number of people undertaking doctoral training.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	263056
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government’s target to reach a total of 2.4% of GDP invested in R&amp;D by 2027 will mean increasing the numbers of highly trained people working in research and innovation including those undertaking doctoral training.</p><p> </p><p>Business-academia collaborations, decisions by internationally mobile companies to locate their R&amp;D functions in the UK and the development of industrial clusters of companies all rely on access to pools of talented researchers. In addition, industrial clusters, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, are often co-located in regions where there are also high quality research intensive universities. This co-location enables the flow of graduates and post-graduates between institutions and companies.</p><p> </p><p>More broadly, a 2015 review on the impacts of doctoral training found that the overwhelming majority of doctoral graduates continued to be involved in the creation of new knowledge, innovation and development of new products and processes, both in the academic and business sectors. Employers highly valued the specialists knowledge and problem-solving skills possessed by doctoral graduates. <a href="https://www.ukri.org/files/skills/full-report-idc-pdf/" target="_blank">https://www.ukri.org/files/skills/full-report-idc-pdf/</a></p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 17/06/2019 16:37:28 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1131082

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Postgraduate Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions has he had with (a) university groups and (b) UK Research and Innovation on the sustainability of current funding for PHD qualifications.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	262245
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>I regularly meet with universities, university groups and UKRI to discuss a number of issues. The government’s target to reach a total of 2.4% of GDP invested in R&amp;D by 2027 will mean increasing the numbers of highly trained people working in research and innovation, including PhD graduates. In 2017/18, UKRI’s direct funding was supporting around 22,000 studentships, about 22% of the UK total. In addition, Research England’s QR Research Degree Programme (RDP) supervision fund provides more than £250 million of annual funding contributing to the costs that universities face in supervising research degree programmes.</p><p> </p><p>In many cases, this investment is also made in partnership, leveraging further support from higher education institutions and industry to maximise the impact from the public investment. For example, in 2019, UKRI invested £100m in 16 new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) in Artificial Intelligence, based at 14 UK universities with 300 partners. Project partners are investing £78 million in cash or in-kind contributions and partner universities are committing a further £23 million, resulting in an overall investment of more than £200 million.</p><p> </p><p>Given the large commitments partner universities make to these investments, we are mindful of the need to maintain sustainability. UKRI is currently developing a plan for the delivery of the government’s 2.4% target with stakeholders to ensure that we not only achieve these ambitious targets but do so in a manner that is sustainable and ensure long-term impact.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 13/06/2019 16:37:27 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1131085

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Technology: Postgraduate Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK economy of the Government's Industrial Strategy proposals to increase the number of people undertaking a high-tech PhD.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	262246
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government has made significant progress in delivering our Industrial Strategy commitments. Through the Industrial Strategy, the Government has committed to increasing overall investment in R&amp;D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 and 3% in the longer term.</p><p>In order to reach the 2.4% R&amp;D target, we need to continue to attract, retain and develop research talent. This is why the government is investing in talent programmes delivered by the National Academies and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).</p><p>The Government has increased its investments in PhDs to support the delivery of this target and the Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges including:</p><ul><li>In 2017, we announced funding of £300m over four years to increase the number of PhDs and fellowship programmes which will develop research talent and attract the brightest minds to the UK.</li><li>In April 2018, we announced a sector deal between government and industry that will put the UK at the forefront of the AI industry. As part of this, UKRI has invested £100m in 16 Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) to support 1000 new AI PhDs.</li></ul><p>Alongside this, UKRI invests in CDTs more broadly, including the recent £446m investment in 75 CDTs across the engineering and physical sciences.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 13/06/2019 13:04:13 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1128579

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Higher Education: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to introduce the teaching excellence framework by subject level for the 2019-20 academic year.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	257651
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>Dame Shirley Pearce is currently conducting an independent review of the operation of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), as required by section 26 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. She has spent several months collecting evidence through a “call for views” and an extensive series of listening sessions and we expect her to report in the summer. Alongside the review, the Office for Students (OfS) has been carrying out the second year of a pilot of subject-level TEF. This will conclude shortly and the OfS will publish its findings. We will await Dame Shirley’s recommendations, and take account of the evidence from the subject-level TEF pilot, before making a decision on the next phase of the TEF.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 257652 question first answered 05/06/2019 12:49:49 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1128580

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Higher Education: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timeframe is for the publication of the report on the independent review of the teaching excellence framework.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	257652
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>Dame Shirley Pearce is currently conducting an independent review of the operation of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), as required by section 26 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. She has spent several months collecting evidence through a “call for views” and an extensive series of listening sessions and we expect her to report in the summer. Alongside the review, the Office for Students (OfS) has been carrying out the second year of a pilot of subject-level TEF. This will conclude shortly and the OfS will publish its findings. We will await Dame Shirley’s recommendations, and take account of the evidence from the subject-level TEF pilot, before making a decision on the next phase of the TEF.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 257651 question first answered 05/06/2019 12:49:49 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1127751

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason Government funding was withdrawn for the Quality Assurance Agency's regulatory and Quality Assurance licensing of Access Validating Agency's for the new academic year 2019-20.
	tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
	tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
	uin	256937
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>Under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, the Office for Students cannot pay the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to regulate or quality assure Access Validating Agency’s or Access to Higher Education Courses beyond 31 July 2019.</p><p> </p><p>The department has spoken with the QAA to discuss how it is adapting to the conclusion of these historic contracts and will hold further discussions later in the year.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/06/2019 07:42:47 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden