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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

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

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

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