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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

1077036

registered interest
date	25/02/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education: Correspondence
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), what regulations are in place to ensure that Higher Education institutions maintain high standards of accuracy and transparency in correspondence with external stakeholders, especially correspondence relating to offers for study on a deferred basis.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL13960
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2019 answer text <p>While higher education institutions have autonomy over admissions, the vast majority of undergraduate applications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are handled by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) on behalf of those institutions. As the shared admissions service, UCAS offers support to universities and colleges in this area through their services. It is also in institutions’ interests to keep accurate and transparent records of applications and admission. The Office for Students, as the independent regulator of higher education, also has a legal responsibility to ensure that registered institutions are acting in the best interests of students, including support in access to higher education.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 06/03/2019 13:52:14 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

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

1046297

registered interest
date	22/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	School of Oriental and African Studies: Radicalism
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding of the report by the Henry Jackson Society Extreme Speakers and Events: In the 2017–18 Academic Year, published on 21 January, that SOAS University of London has hosted 70 events that were addressed by extremist speakers; whether they have discussed that report with SOAS; if so, what was the outcome of any such discussions; and what steps they intend to take in response.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL13007
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2019 answer text <p>​There is no place for extremism in our society and extremist views should be exposed and challenged.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education has not engaged with any institutions, including SOAS University of London, in relation to the Henry Jackson Society report.</p><p> </p><p>The government believes that free speech should been encouraged, provided that it is within the law as it encourages debate and understanding. Challenging extremist speakers and events is an important part of tackling extremist narratives. However, this does not mean closing down lawful speech, but rather ensuring the right steps are taken to counter extremist narratives and make sure that those who wish to spread hatred do not go unchallenged.</p><p> </p><p>The Prevent duty requires higher education institutions to ensure they have mitigated the risk of extremist speakers spreading harmful narratives before an event can go ahead.</p><p> </p><p>​The Equality and Human Rights Commission is developing new guidance on freedom of speech in higher education, which will be published shortly.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 01/02/2019 14:53:40 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool