Regulatory Partnership Group
Notes of the twelfth meeting held on 19 November 2014 at HEFCE’s London Offices, Finlaison
House, Furnival Street, London.
Present
Tim Melville Ross (Chair)
Alison Allden (HESA)
Madeleine Atkins (HEFCE)
Rob Behrens (OIA)
Chris Brodie (SLC)
Nicola Dandridge (Universities UK)
Nick Davy (AOC)
Les Ebdon (OFFA)
Heather Fry (HEFCE)
In attendance
for item 1;
for items 1 and 2
For all items:
Derek Knight (UKVI)
Mick Laverty (SLC)
Anthony McClaran (QAA)
Gordon McKenzie (DBIS) by telephone
Kath Thompson (HEFCE Secretary)
Helen Thorne (UCAS)
Andy Westwood (GuildHE)
Rob White (Health Education England)
Mike Lambourne, Assistant Director, Competition and Markets Authority;
Huw Morris, Group Director, Skills, Higher Education and Lifelong
Learning, Department for Education and Skills, Welsh Government and
Helen Jones
Andy Youell (HEDIIP).
Apologies: Martin Doel (AOC), Megan Dunn (NUS), Bernard Evans (UKVI)
Chair’s welcome
1
The chair welcomed Nick Davy, who was attending on behalf of Martin Doel of AOC and
Derek Knight, who was attending on behalf of Bernard Evans (UKVI).
Notes of the meeting held on 10 April 2014
RPG/50
2
The notes were approved as a correct record of the meeting, subject to the amendment
of 2014 to 2013 in paragraph 8.
Matters arising; Role and purpose of RPG – to note an amendment to
membership
RPG/51
3
At its meeting on 10 April 2014 the RPG reviewed its role and agreed a constitution.
Since that meeting HEFCE has established a new directorate and the Director of Regulation and
Assurance, Heather Fry, is now responsible for work in relevant areas. RPG noted that she will
attend RPG in the place of Steve Egan.
Update on the work on HE by the Competition and Markets Authority
4
The Chair welcomed Mike Lambourne to the meeting to provide an update on the work
emerging from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report that was described at the last RPG
meeting.
5
Two strands of work have been developed by the Competition and Markets Authority
(CMA), which has succeeded the OFT. :
- regulation and competition, which is examining the impact of the current HE
regulatory framework on providers’ choice, competition and ability to innovate.
Recommendations will follow early in 2015 and are intended to inform the
development of any future regulatory framework.
- consumer compliance, which is intended to clarify providers’ responsibilities to
students and is UK-wide in its coverage, although the original Call for Information
(CfI) had been confined to HE in England.
6
The OFT’s CfI had found no evidence of widespread poor compliance with consumer
legislation, but stakeholder engagement had indicated three areas which would benefit from
clarification. The areas were:
 Information provision for decision-making
 Terms and conditions – variation, limitations of liability
 Complaints and redress – signposting of processes
7
Some advice had now been drafted. It took as its focus undergraduate provision, but
would be of benefit to students at all levels. In CMA’s view there was no difference in the
consumer rights of students, who were paying fees themselves and those, such as health
students, whose fees were met by an authority.
8
The advice was aimed at all HE providers, whether publicly funded HE institutions,
further education colleges offering HE or other providers with specific course designation. It takes
account of the provisions of the Consumer Rights Bill currently under discussion in the House of
Commons.
9
A brief consultation with the HE sector was planned to run from late November until 18
December 2014 and there would be a roundtable discussion on 11 December. After taking
account of the findings of the consultation the advice will be published in the early weeks of
2015. CMA recognises that providers will need some time to reflect on and implement the
advice, and a definitive timetable for implementation had not yet been announced..
10
A guide for undergraduate students, suggesting questions that they should ask
themselves before making a choice of provider had also been designed in consultation with the
National Union of Students and Which and would be published in December.
11
CMA would welcome responses to the consultation from organisations represented at
RPG as well as from HE providers.
Developments in the Welsh HE system
12
The chair welcomed Huw Morris and Helen Jones to the meeting to update RPG on
developments in the HE system in Wales,
Context
13
The Welsh HE system is much smaller than the English and the HE regulatory framework
has a different shape to that of England. HEFCW had been designated as the fair access
regulator for Wales under the HE Act 2004 and the student support package has also evolved to
a different form with the support of the Welsh Assembly Government. Welsh Ministers are
responsible for the designation of providers for student finance purposes. Publicly funded
providers are designated at an institutional level and no application is required, while alternative
providers are designated on a course by course basis upon application.
Proposed new regulatory system
14
In advance of a new HE Bill in Wales, a technical consultation on the regulation of HE in
Wales took place. New regulatory arrangements are in train that will build on the existing
system, but will no longer rely on accountability for public funding.
15
Under the proposed HE legislation HEFCW will be given new powers of direction with the
ultimate sanction of removal of designation and it will take on an enhanced regulatory role,
involving:
• oversight of fee controls and fees and access plans;
• assessment of quality
• provision of financial assurance.
It will be obliged to publish an enforcement policy and providers will be able to seek independent
review of HEFCW’s activity. The new legislation will seek to safeguard the contribution made to
the public good arising from the Welsh Government’s financial subsidy and will contain an explicit
commitment to institutional autonomy and academic freedom.
16
In the new HE regulatory system for Wales all providers will be required to have
charitable status in order to receive public support for delivering HE. Those providers that wish
to have institutional designation (“automatic designation”) will need to apply, submitting a fee and
access plan. The fee support package for this group will be £9000 per student per year.
Course-by-course designation will still be available and will involve no requirement for fee and
access plans, but providers will need to comply with criteria on quality of provision and financial
assurance. This group will have a fee support package of £6000 per student per annum.
17
It is proposed (as far as is possible) to continue with the reciprocal arrangements for the
cross-border regulation of HE as currently operated between HEFCW and HEFCE – to prevent
the emergence of new gaps in regulation.
Review of HE funding and Student Finance arrangements
18
Professor Sir Ian Diamond is leading a review of HE funding and student finance
arrangements in Wales that will report by September 2016. It is intended to provide advice and
costed recommendations for the future funding of the Welsh HE sector and student finance
arrangements in Wales for introduction, ideally, in 2018-19.
19
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Welsh government priorities for the review are:
Widening access – ensuring that any future system has widening access as its core
objective, is progressive and equitable;
Supporting the skills needs of Wales;
Strengthening part-time and postgraduate provision in Wales; and
Long-term financial sustainability.
20
The challenges to this timetable and the new regulatory framework as a whole are not to
be underestimated and include the constraints of the next Comprehensive Spending Review.
Dealing with emerging corporate forms and developing mechanisms for coping with institutional
failure are also high priorities.
21
Members noted that the proposals did not cover research, since that was closely aligned
to the research assessment system practised across the UK administrations and was handled in
a different department of the Welsh Assembly Government. RPG expressed its thanks for the
presentation which gave much food for thought, in particular the proposed approach on
regulatory alignment between England and Wales.
HEDIIP review of activities 2013-14 and forward look
RPG/52
22
HEDIIP has been established to redesign the information landscape and arrive at a new
system that reduces the burden on data providers and improves the quality, timeliness and
accessibility of data and information about HE. HEDIIP operates on a UK-wide basis with funding
from each of the UK HE funding authorities. There are organisational and cultural issues to be
tackled before it can achieve these objectives; lack of co-ordination among collectors, for
example, is leading to uncoordinated activity in institutions, but the concept of a common core of
student data is beginning to emerge as work on the Unique Learner Number and JACs coding
progresses. HEDIIP is engaging with alternative providers.
23
There was some discussion of the governance arrangements for HEDIIP and RPG’s role
within them. A programme board with representation from key stakeholders had been chaired by
Professor Sir Tim Wilson until summer 2014and was now chaired by Professor Neil Gorman,
formerly Vice Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University. The two RPG members who sit on the
programme board indicated that it is an effective body and there is also a technical advisory
panel. RPG was assured that there was no confusion in the sector about the relative roles of
HEDIIP and HESA, which were quite distinct. An indication of HEDIIP’s growing profile was the
fact that HESA was now considering its future strategy in the light of the work that HEDIIP had
undertaken.
24
RPG endorsed the advice given by the programme board that HEDIIP should
concentrate on the big opportunities, including working with the largest data collectors rather than
with the largest number of data collectors. It welcomed the concepts of standardisation – leading
to efficiency gains within and between institutions by not having to translate data – and
rationalisation – promoting the combination of data collections. It indicated that its role was not
to act in the manner of a sponsor under formal project management protocols, but to grasp the
concept behind HEDIIP’s objectives and to champion and support its work.
Progress report on implementing the recommendations of the Corporate
Forms Working Group
RPG/53
25
RPG noted the progress that had been made on the action plan that had been drafted to
show how the various RPG member organisations were addressing the recommendations of the
Corporate Forms Working Group.
Updates from members
26
Following on from the report on HEDIIP’s activities the Chief Executive of HESA
described the work that HESA was undertaking to review and transform its data collection so that
it would provide more timely data. A business case was in development and would be available
in late spring. She welcomed particularly HEDIIP’s work on data standards for core data,
commenting on how it would help to build confidence in HESA data among other collectors.
27
The Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company indicated that there would be a
hearing of the Public Accounts Committee in December which would discuss the findings of a
National Audit Office report on alternative providers. Discussion might not be confined to that
report, however, and a wide ranging discussion might be expected that would cover topical
areas, such as the HE Commission’s report on the financial sustainability of HE, general value
for money issues, and student action, including demonstrations in London.
28
The Independent Adjudicator indicated that the Good Practice Framework on student
complaints and redress would be published in December and would become operational in
September 2015. He also commented on the implementation of the European Union Alternative
Dispute Resolution Directive and on the amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill, which
proposed extending mandatory membership of the OIA to a broader range of HE providers.
29
In response to a question, the Independent Adjudicator indicated that a judicial review
currently underway would give greater clarity in the area of disability management in HE.
HEFCE’s Chief Executive mentioned two research projects on disability management and mental
health that were being funded by HEFCE to inform the development of government policy.
Date of next meeting: 4 June 2015
30
The next meeting is scheduled for 1030-1230 on 4 June 2015 at HEFCE’s London
offices. It was agreed that there was less need to meet in advance of the election and there was
a relatively short period after Christmas before pre-election restrictions set in for many RPG
members. Two meetings are scheduled, however, for shortly after the election. In 2016 the
RPG will return to a more regular pattern, as determined by its members.