Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the (a) capacity and (b) expertise of the Office for Students to perform (i) quality and standards, (ii) degree awarding powers and (iii) external quality assurance of end point assessments for degree apprenticeships.

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) has confirmed that it wishes to step down from the Designated Quality Body role at the end of March 2023. Arrangements for consulting the sector on the de-designation of the QAA will be confirmed imminently.

On 14 October 2022, the Office for Students (OfS) published an update on arrangements for assessing quality and standards from 1 April 2023.This update confirmed that the OfS will undertake a number of assessment activities that are currently delivered by the QAA on an interim basis from 1 April 2023. These include quality and standards reviews for providers seeking OfS registration, standards assessments for the purpose of assessing initial condition B8 of the OfS regulatory framework, and assessments for degree awarding powers.

The department has been working closely with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and the OfS on plans to deliver external quality assurance of end-point assessments for integrated and higher degree apprenticeships.

The department is also working closely with the OfS on ensuring these responsibilities are fulfilled effectively, and that they will continue to ensure the world-class standard of our higher education institutions is maintained.

The Secretary of State for Education will receive advice from officials and the OfS on permanent arrangements for the assessment of quality and standards. There are currently a number of options for future designation arrangements under consideration.