(12 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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I think that universities will be greatly reassured that they have an excellent man to lead OFFA in future, as Sir Martin Harris has done in the past. It has been a good process, we have a good outcome, and universities have absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
As someone who once conducted interviews of undergraduates at Oxford, my experience is that Oxford was a university that admits on merit, rather than considering the background of candidates, and was always looking for ways to widen access. Oxford spends double the sector average on financial support for lowest income students, but given concerns expressed today about Professor Ebdon’s appointment, does the Secretary of State agree that decisions about admissions to universities must remain the ultimate decision of those universities, as they are best placed to make that judgment?
Yes, of course I agree, and I repeat what I have said several times in the past. Indeed, the ultimate assurance that the hon. Lady has are the terms of the legislation under which OFFA operates, the Higher Education Act 2004, which said that the director of OFFA
“has a duty to protect academic freedom”,
including determining
“the criteria for the admission of students”.
That is absolute.