Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to (a) monitor and (b) assess the financial health of universities.

The Office for Students (OfS), as the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England, collects and analyses financial data from HE providers, as well as other intelligence, to ensure they have an up to date understanding of the sustainability of the sector.  In their most recent report on the financial health of the HE sector, which was published in May 2023, the OfS stated that the overall aggregate financial position of the sector is sound.

The full report is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/0b7d9daa-d6c7-477e-a0b2-b90985d0f935/financial-sustainability-report-2023-updated-june-2023.pdf.

The department continues to work closely with the OfS, HE representative bodies and other government departments, as appropriate, to understand the ongoing financial sustainability in the sector.