Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions the Office for Students has had with Shaping Futures, the Liverpool City Region arm of the Uni-Connect programme, on what budget it can expect to have for the next phase of the programme from August 2021.

The Uni Connect outreach programme operated by the Office for Student (OfS) has, since its inception in 2017, established 29 regional partnerships of universities, colleges, employers and other local partners, to provide sustained outreach to young people in schools and colleges in areas with low or unexplained gaps in higher education (HE) participation. The programme has been successful in addressing cold spots in outreach and enabling engagement from schools and colleges. Funding this programme has embedded a collaborative approach to widening access and enabled local partners to galvanise action around HE outreach to complement the funding already spent by Higher Education Providers on outreach as part of their Access and Participation Plans.

The initial investment in the Uni Connect programme to establish a collaborative model and set up a regional infrastructure comes to an end in July 2021, and so this is an appropriate time to consider the scope and objectives of the programme, including funding other areas of increasing importance for students and prospective students.

The OfS is currently consulting on the future of the programme. Whilst it has not undertaken individual discussions with Shaping Futures regarding the next phase of funding for Uni Connect, programme-wide updates have been provided to partnerships at regular meetings with the Programme Leads and Chairs.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, writes annually to the OfS, setting out the available teaching grant funding, and will issue the letter for 2021/2022 in due course.