Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 20 February (HL13570), whether the recommendations they made to the Office for Students to reduce the numbers of unconditional offers included reversing prior offers of places to students who already satisfied previously advertised admissions criteria.

The Department for Education has not made any recommendations to the Office for Students (OfS) to reverse prior offers of places to students who already satisfied previously advertised admissions criteria.

We have made clear to the OfS that they should use the full range of powers at their disposal to take action where an institution cannot justify their rising numbers of unconditional offers. However, we recognise that where a student already has relevant entry level qualifications, and for some creative arts subjects, unconditional offers may be justified. Admissions are a matter of institutional autonomy but we expect universities to make their admissions criteria fair, accessible and transparent.