Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the dates of all meetings the Minister for Higher Education has held with (a) Universities UK and (b) the Universities and College Union on the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

I have held a number of meetings and conversations in relation to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) dispute with interested parties, including Universities UK (UUK) and the University and College Union (UCU).

I consistently urged both UUK and UCU to continue to negotiate in order to find a solution. I welcome the recent vote by UCU members in favour of the proposal to create a Joint Expert Panel to examine the USS valuation.