The Accountability of Universities

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 2 April 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:06, 2 April 2019

I want to thank the Member for the question. I want to respond to the important general points that she makes, and I understand both her strength of feeling and the knowledge that she has of the specific matter that she has raised. But in relation to the general point, the Welsh Government funds higher education provision and HEFCW monitors institutions. And that split of responsibilities is there in order to ensure that the autonomy of those institutions is respected for the reasons that Helen Mary Jones recognised in her supplementary question. 

But it is because of concerns about the quality of provision and academic integrity that the Minister in her remit letter to HEFCW for 2019-20 sought new assurances from them that institutions are taking these matters seriously, and that there are strengthened measures being put in place. Officials of the Welsh Government are in discussions with HEFCW about how to make sure that there are strengthened risk-review measures in place, and that we can strengthen the guidance that HEFCW provides to those governing bodies. They do, as the Member said, spend very significant sums of public money. They do so in a way that has a direct impact on local economies and the prospects of local populations, and it is absolutely right and proper that the standards to which those governing bodies respond are the ones that we would expect to see, and that we can have confidence that they are doing so in a way that would stand up to examination.