Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government on how many occasions in the last three years the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has (1) raised concerns, and (2) taken action, regarding private colleges and providers of degrees.

All higher education providers are autonomous and privately run. This includes Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded higher education institutions and alternative providers, which can be designated for student support purposes by the department. At the same time, some privately run institutions may be subject to obligations imposed on public authorities (e.g. the Freedom of Information Act 2000). As a result of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, the Office for Students will regulate all registered English higher education providers through its regulatory framework, which is currently being consulted on.

69 concerns have been raised about higher education providers through the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Concerns Scheme since 2014-15. 23 have so far led to full investigations which subsequently required action by the provider (see attached table).

Since 1 August 2016, concerns about publicly funded higher education providers in England are subject to the Unsatisfactory Quality Scheme managed by HEFCE. Therefore, the figures from 2016-17 onwards only relate to Alternative Providers which continue to be covered by QAA’s Concerns Scheme.