Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure that the Office for Students has a full set of key performance indicators against which its performance can be measured.

The Office for Students (OfS) sets out on its website its 26 key performance measures (KPMs), available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/about/measures-of-our-success/. These are the main tools for the OfS to understand whether they are delivering the right outcomes for students.

The OfS plans to review its KPMs once it has finalised its new strategy for calendar years 2022 to 2025, which it is launching on Wednesday 23 March 2022. Department officials will continue to work closely with the OfS to review and jointly agree these KPMs to ensure that they reflect new challenges and priorities.

KPMs are just one part of how the department oversees the performance of the OfS. Ministers also issue statutory guidance to the OfS under section 2(3) of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, and that guidance is published on the OfS website.

Senior officials also meet quarterly with the OfS chair and chief executive to formally review the OfS’s performance against the department’s strategic aims and priorities. I meet with the OfS chair and chief executive monthly to discuss priorities and challenges to achieving these.