Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to regulate the use of non-disclosure agreements concerning the pricing and licensing arrangements of academic e-book agreements between universities and providers.

The department is aware of the concerns about pricing and licensing of e-books, which are at the heart of the campaign led by a group of UK-based academic librarians seeking an investigation into the academic publishing industry by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

There are different views across the publishing and higher education (HE) sectors, as these concerns engage wide-ranging issues, including consumer protection.

I will be hosting a discussion shortly with representatives of the publishing sector, government and HE bodies, including the body for university libraries. Any moves to request a market study or challenge practice on confidentiality agreements will be decided after this discussion.

While it is possible for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to ask the CMA to look into issues in markets, the CMA is independent of government and makes its own decisions about its work according to published prioritisation principles. Under statute, it is the CMA Board who decides whether to publish a market study notice, and thereby launch a market study.