Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had discussions with the (a) University of Kent and (b) University of Greenwich on potential redundancies of (i) teaching and (ii) other staff following the formation of the London and South East University Group.

The department sees collaboration of this type as a positive pathway towards building greater resilience in the sector, especially where this will bring positive benefits to students.

This partnership has been led by the universities themselves. However, the department will continue to work with both universities on any regulatory barriers to the proposed changes.

As independent institutions, universities are responsible for decisions around staffing. Nevertheless, we expect all universities to engage constructively with their workforce when making decisions which may affect them.