Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the expected higher education initial participation rate for the 2015-16 academic year.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) publishes statistics on higher education initial participation rates in the annual Statistical First Release “Participation Rates in Higher Education”. The latest figures refer to the 2013-14 academic year and are available at the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-rates-in-higher-education-2006-to-2014

BIS does not forecast higher education initial participation rates. UCAS has published early statistics on university admissions for the 2015-16 academic year, available at the link: https://www.ucas.com/sites/default/files/ucas-entry-year-acceptances-day28-2015.pdf