Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to measure the effectiveness of the mechanisms for meeting the new access and participation targets proposed by the Office for Students.

The Office for Students (OfS), as the new independent regulator for higher education, has recently consulted the sector on a new approach to regulating higher education (HE) providers’ progress on widening access and successful participation in HE. The OfS is expected to respond to the consultation later this year.

We would expect the OfS to keep any new approach under review, to assess its effectivenes in achieving our goals for improved access and participation in HE by under-represented groups.

The OfS brings together the levers of both funding and the arrangements for agreeing and monitoring Higher Education providers’ Access and Participation plans to seek continuous improvement in this area. OfS also now has access to a range of sanctions to address concerns about a lack of progress on access and participation.