Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential benefits of a national strategy to manage financial restructuring across the higher education sector.

The department recognises the concerns of higher education (HE) providers and their staff around the ongoing financial stability of their institutions.

While HE providers are independent from government and are responsible for the pay and provision of staff, we are committed to working with the sector to create a secure future for our world-leading sector. Our decision to raise tuition fees annually in line with inflation, alongside refocusing the Office for Students on monitoring the sector’s financial health, demonstrates this commitment.

We encourage providers to work with their staff to develop sustainable models that retain talent and expertise and provide stability for the workforce and the institution. We will continue to engage regularly with the sector, unions and the employer body to better understand issues affecting HE providers and staff.