Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department plans to measure the (a) educational, (b) labour market and (c) societal outcomes of student opportunity allocation funding using individual-based data on a national level.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) recently published its policy framework for the student opportunity allocation: 'Delivering opportunities for students and maximising their success' which can be found at the following link: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2015/201514/. This set out its expectation that new initiatives will only be funded where they have robust evaluation plans in place, including the application of suitable research methods and the appropriate use of individual and national level data. HEFCE also plans to develop a framework setting out the outcomes against which the HE sector will be expected to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of its work. It is envisaged this will include a range of educational, labour market and, where possible, wider societal outcomes.