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<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>While
it is not currently a criminal offence to operate an essay mill, we are keeping the
need for legislation under review. We are mindful however, that countries who have
introduced legislation to make the operation of essay mills illegal, appear to have
had limited success in pursuing successful prosecutions using that legislation.</p><p>
</p><p>In 2016, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) found there were approximately
17,000 instances of academic offences per year in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>Our current
focus is on non-legislative measures and we expect educational institutions to do
everything in their power to prevent students being tempted by these companies. In
a university context, that may be through making sure their students are aware of
the severe consequences they face under the terms of their student contract if they
are caught cheating. The most recent guidance from the QAA highlights the importance
of severe sanctions of suspension or expulsion if ‘extremely serious academic misconduct’
has been discovered.</p><p> </p><p>On 20 March 2019, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary
of State for Education challenged PayPal to stop processing payments for essay mills.
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.
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>In
addition, the department published an education technology strategy on 3 April, attached,
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.</p><p> </p><p>We
are determined to beat the cheats who threaten the integrity of our higher education
system.</p>
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