Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Written Statement of 26 July 2024 on Higher Education Regulation Update, HCWS26, when she plans to confirm her long term plans for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.

This government took the decision to pause the implementation of further parts of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act to ensure that it is workable in practice and that the impacts of the Act on providers, staff, students’ unions and minority groups are fully considered.

​The department is continuing to meet with a full range of stakeholders, including groups of academics supporting provisions of the Act, minority groups and unions representing staff and students. This will feed into decision making on the future of the Act and this government’s longer-term policy on protecting freedom of speech across the higher education (HE) sector.

The department will confirm, as soon as possible, plans for the Act and long-term plans for continuing to secure freedom of speech in HE.