Higher Education (Transparency Condition and Financial Support) (England) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Education
James Younger (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their broad acceptance and approval of these regulations. I thank my noble friends Lord Lucas and Lord Lexden, the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, and the noble Lord, Lord Adonis. I will cover all their questions in turn On the big picture, these transparency regulations are very important as part of the setting up of the OfS and its very remit. The whole point is that there should be transparency and universities should be seen to provide value for money for all students. At the end of the day, outcomes are also important: students going in, what they do when they come out and where they go. Linked into the LEO figures we can then better know who is coming in, who is coming out and how they get on. Ultimately, that helps to market our universities at home and abroad, particularly, as I said at the beginning of my speech, looking at social mobility and disadvantaged students who—for first time in some cases—have the chance to go to university and a great opportunity for a career The noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, made an interesting point about elite universities and sharing data. That leads into something that the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, will feel strongly about, which is transparency at vice-chancellor and senior leadership level at university. He and I agree on this. He knows, as I do, that we are putting as much pressure as we can on all universities, including the elite ones, to act with restraint. They obviously have a duty to publish certain figures relating to their salaries. I will not go into the details of that; I think that the House knows about it. That will help to lead to that restraint, but it will also help to raise the profiles of the universities abroad. People will be able to look at the figures and at what the universities do, how they operate and how they manage themselves. I hope that it will be a good story and that more people will come to university. There is a linkage there My noble friend Lord Lexden asked about the current position of the OfS register. I reassure him that it now exists. The OfS recently confirmed that the first 42 providers have been officially registered. The OfS register is now available for anyone on the OfS website. The OfS will continue to populate the register over the forthcoming months The noble Lord, Lord Adonis, asked early on in the debate about the sharing of data. Maybe I can give him a little bit more information. The information-sharing regulations enable the OfS to share information with a range of bodies as set out in the regulations, where this is for the purpose of performing the other body’s functions. The OfS will also be to share information with third parties where it is appropriate to do so and where this is part of an OfS function. There are specific regulations laid down with restrictions for that My noble friend Lord Lucas, in welcoming the regulations, asked about the research and evaluation by universities and their sharing of expertise in tackling underlying problems. We have asked the Office for Students to develop an evidence and impact exchange to identify and share good practice on what works and what has the greatest impact The noble Lord, Lord Watson, and the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, spoke about Oxbridge and ethnicity. Wadham was mentioned. "If Wadham can, then why can’t the others?", one noble Lord asked. I think I said at the beginning that 18 year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds are entering full-time higher education at record rates, including the most selective universities, which is positive news, but we have asked the OfS to challenge for and encourage more progress, particularly at our most selective institutions. The publication of transparency data by ethnicity will shine a light on where they need to go further, so I hope that provides some reassurance The noble Lord, Lord Adonis, asked about the powers of the OfS in Northern Ireland. I listened carefully to his latter remarks and am grateful for his observations. The OfS is a regulator of higher education in England only but, having said that, let me write to the noble Lord, because his remarks were quite expansive and extended to the difficulties that Northern Ireland is facing at the moment. I will read his remarks in Hansard and write a letter to him to clarify that The noble Lord also asked about the OfS concentrating too much on setting up and systems, and not on changing behaviours. I do not agree with him. Yes, a key focus this year is for the OfS to register providers, but it has a wide range of other priorities as set out in the Government’s strategic guidance to the OfS published in February, and set out in the OfS’s strategy and business plan. On the back of the Higher Education and Research Act, the OfS is very much up and running. The noble Lord mentioned certain problems that arose, but I am glad that he acknowledged that it is moving forward and making progress on a range of matters I hope that I have covered the questions asked. Noble Lords have a keen and understandable interest in the implementation of HERA. There is no doubt that today’s scrutiny plays a vital role in ensuring that the reform promised by that Act is achieved.