Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of students who are studying social work in higher education settings in the West Midlands.

The Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) collects and publishes data on students enrolled at UK Higher Education Institutions, including information on subject of study. Subjects are categorised using the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). More information on JACS codes can be found at:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs.

The following table contains the numbers of full person equivalent entrants to courses categorised as social work at higher education institutions in the West Midlands and in England.

Full person equivalent¹ enrolments on social work² courses by level of study

Higher Education Institutions in the West Midlands and England

Academic Years 2016/17

Source: DfE analysis of the HESA student record

Counts rounded to the nearest five so may not sum exactly to totals

1. Counts are on the basis of full-person-equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, they are apportioned between the subjects that make up their course.
2. Subjects are categorised using JACS 3.0 principal subject ‘L5 – Social Work’.