Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of high numbers of student complaints on the financial viability of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) is an independent organisation that is funded by subscriptions from higher education providers, who are members of the scheme.

The level of subscriptions is set by the OIA board each year and are largely based on student numbers, but also include an element related to the previous case receipts of providers. In 2021, the OIA received 2,763 complaints, which was a 6% increase on 2020 figures.

A statement of the OIA’s financial activities can be found in its annual report published on its website: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/media/2633/operating-report-2021.pdf.