Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts
Monday 10th October 2016

(8 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Justine Greening Portrait Justine Greening
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In part, the Bill reflects our wish to secure value for money for students, which we are building into law for the first time. Our updating of the higher education regulatory framework is long overdue, and I am delighted that we are taking the opportunity to put the interests of students at the heart of it.

Ben Howlett Portrait Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should beware the law of unintended consequences? Adding students to the board of the Office for Students would put at risk representation and engagement with students throughout the higher education system. Will she assure me, and the student community, that the OFS will put students at the heart of the system?

Justine Greening Portrait Justine Greening
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I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. I know that he has played an important role on the Public Bill Committee and presented his own proposals. As we have made clear, we do not want to be over-prescriptive. We want to set up the Office for Students and allow it to ensure that students have a voice not just through representation, but through the way in which the office itself works.