Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the exposure of universities to illicit financial flows through university engagement with philanthropic sources of funding.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has not made any assessment of illicit flows of funding to universities. However, as a result of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, the Office for Students (OfS), as the market regulator, will act swiftly and decisively where the interest of the student and the taxpayer is at risk at any registered provider of higher education. OfS will have a range of powers that it will employ at a sector and individual provider level, as appropriate and proportionate, both to prevent fraud and to act when fraud is suspected.