Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the report, Boys to Men: The under achievement of young men in higher education, published by the Higher Education Policy Institute in May 2016, what steps the Government is taking to increase (a) the level of achievement of young men in higher education and (b) male entry rates into higher education.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education, irrespective of their background or gender.

In the last academic year we saw record entry rates to higher education, including among those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In our recent guidance to the Director of Fair Access, we asked him to focus support on groups with the lowest participation rates, including white males from disadvantaged backgrounds. Universities expect to spend more than £745 million through access agreements agreed with the Director of Fair Access on measures to improve access and also success for students from disadvantaged backgrounds - up significantly from £404 million in 2009.