Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what requirements are placed on universities to collect data on (1) sex, (2) gender, (3) gender identity or (4) gender reassignment, of students when (a) applying for university, (b) joining the university and (c) graduating from university, and whether they have reports showing what data are collected.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK’s higher education (HE) sector and specifies which data HE providers should collect from students. All HE providers with a statutory requirement to report data to HESA are asked to return data on students’ sex. HE providers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are asked to return data on students’ gender identity (whether their gender identity aligns with their sex registered at birth), and providers in Scotland may optionally return data on students’ transgender status.

Certain HE providers in England, which are registered with the Office for Students, are required to provide data on the number of applications, offers, acceptances and completion rates by gender, under an ongoing condition of registration in respect of transparency information.

HE providers are required under the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, but also to actively advance equality. This may include collecting relevant data to monitor and improve their policies and delivery of services.

All HE providers must adhere to data protection legislation when processing students’ personal data, ensuring that it is collected and processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently, and are required to publish privacy notices setting out what types of personal data they collect and how they will process it.