Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 49 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment she has made of the level of (a) retention and (b) graduate outcomes among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Application rates to Higher Education by disadvantaged 18-year-olds in England are at record levels and retention rates for this group, as well as mature, and BME students are higher than they were in 2010. According to HEFCE data (http://www.hefce.ac.uk/analysis/ncr/nhe/), we have seen non-continuation rates for the most disadvantaged students fall from 9.3% in 2009/10 to 8.8% in 2015/16. There has also been an increase in the rate of those on free school meals entering HE by age 19, up from 18% in 2009/10 to 24% in 2014/15 (the most recent year for which data is available). Graduates on average earn comfortably over £100K more over their lifetime, and 73% of those from less advantaged backgrounds are employed in the most advantaged occupational groups six months after graduating.

There is more to do, and this Government has put in place actions to make further progress. Retention rates and graduate outcomes are both core metrics of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The TEF explicitly assesses providers on how well they are delivering positive outcomes for students from disadvantaged groups and this is reflected in the rating that providers receive.

The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 requires institutions to publish admissions and retention data by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background. This greater transparency will help the sector make further progress to build on its achievements so far.

The new regulatory framework for Higher Education and the Office for Students (OfS) will put students at the heart of the OfS’ remit. The OfS will have a statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity across the whole lifecycle for disadvantaged students, not just access. As a result, widening access and participation for students from disadvantaged backgrounds will be at the core of OfS functions.