Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Australian University Foreign Interference Taskforce at tackling foreign interference; and whether he has held recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential merits of establishing a similar body in the UK.

The Government regularly liaises with international partners, including Australia, on the issue of foreign interference. We also support the UK university sector to mitigate the risks. With our support, Universities UK has worked to increase understanding of the threat, issued guidelines for institutions in October 2020, and co-signed a statement on 'safe, secure and stable internationalisation' with counterparts, including Australia. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill will also empower English providers to address concerns about freedom of speech related threats and possible influence of overseas money, without reducing the ability of our world class universities to collaborate globally.