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Written Question
Higher Education: Electronic Publishing
Tuesday 3rd November 2020

Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to make an assessment of the effect of academic publishing industry (a) pricing and (b) licensing practices for ebooks on (i) students and (ii) universities.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The government brought forward the zero rate of VAT on e-publications from December. The extension of the zero rate of VAT has been introduced to provide consistency in approach between certain physical and digital publications. This will make e-publications more affordable for students and universities. The government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT. No assessment of the effect of the academic publishing industry’s pricing and licensing practices for ebooks is planned.