Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consultations the Government had with stakeholders prior to the announcement of the National Office for Students.

A full public consultation on creating an Office for Students took place following the publication of proposals set out in the green paper ‘Fulfilling our potential – Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice’ (November 2015): https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/474227/BIS-15-623-fulfilling-our-potential-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice.pdf.

In response to this consultation, the government set out its intention to create an Office for Students in the white paper ‘Higher education: success as a knowledge economy’ (May 2016), supported by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-success-as-a-knowledge-economy-white-paper.

During 2017, the department launched seven consultations on aspects of the reforms, set out in this legislation, relating to how the Office for Students will undertake its role as the new regulator for the higher education sector. These included, registration and other fees; the regulatory framework; the designation of the data and quality bodies; Degree Awarding Powers and University Title; and monetary and financial penalties.