Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Council for England as Accounting Officer has a duty to intervene in cases of serious abuse of funding on the part of universities.

As Accounting Officer for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Chief Executive Officer has a duty to safeguard the public funds the council allocates. Through the Memorandum of Assurance and Accountability, which HEFCE has with all the institutions it funds, the council monitors universities’ management of public money. HEFCE has power, under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, to intervene in cases of mismanagement.