Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to Russell Group universities on improving access for students from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds.

The Government is committed to widening participation to higher education for students from disadvantaged and under-represented groups. Figures from UCAS figures show that the entry rate for disadvantaged young people to the most selective institutions –such as those from the Russell Group - has increased 52% proportionally between 2009 and 2016.

The latest guidance from Government to the Director of Fair Access (February 2016) acknowledges that, whilst selective institutions have made progress in widening access to higher education, more could and should be done. As such we have asked the Director to challenge institutions to see that more progress is made. Through the access agreement process there are regular discussions with each higher education institution about their plans and progress in widening participation.

In its strategic plan the Office for Fair Access has set the sector an objective, to be achieved by 2019-20, to make faster progress to increase the entry rate of students from under-represented and disadvantaged groups entering more selective institutions and narrow the participation gap between people from the most and least advantaged backgrounds at such institutions.

From January 2018, the Office for Students (OfS), with a new Director for Fair Access and Participation appointed by the Secretary of State, will take on responsibility for widening participation in higher education. The OfS will have a statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity across the whole lifecycle for disadvantaged students, not just access. As a result, widening access and participation will be at the core of the OfS’ functions. In addition, our reforms will introduce a Transparency Duty requiring higher education providers to publish application, offer, acceptance, dropout and attainment rates of students broken down by ethnicity, gender and socio-economic background.