Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to universities for students with special educational needs.

Widening participation to higher education is a priority for this government. We want everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education to have the opportunity to benefit from a university education, regardless of their background or where they grew up.

In our first guidance to the Office for Students (OfS), we identified certain target groups, including students with specific learning needs or disabilities, as we recognise that they require specific support for accessing and succeeding in higher education. Through access agreements (now known as access and participation plans), which have been agreed with the OfS, higher education providers are expected to reduce the gaps in access, success and progression for under-represented groups amongst their students.

Through the access and participation plans for the period of 2018 to 2019, universities and further education colleges plan to spend more than £860 million on measures to improve access and student success for students from under-represented groups and disadvantaged backgrounds. This amount has significantly increased from the planned expenditure of £404 million in 2009.

Prior attainment is a critical factor and we are asking higher education providers to take on a more direct role in helping to raise attainment in schools as part of their outreach activity. We expect all universities to help raise attainment and support school improvement, including through school sponsorship and establishing new state schools.