My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 110 and also to Amendments 112, 117, 228 and 233 standing in my name. These amendments have been prompted by the discussions and engagement I have had with the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Obviously, higher education institutions are public bodies for the purpose of the public sector equality duty and, as a result, have existing obligations placed upon them under the Equality Act 2010. The concern that has been expressed, and which these amendments seek to address, is that in the very worthy objective of trying to promote transparency with the publication of equality data and to have participation plans with key equality objectives, because there is not a proper match between the requirements in the Bill and those under the public sector equality duty, higher education institutions may find that they are somewhat confused as to what their obligations actually are. They may well think that if they have satisfied the Office for Students, they have probably satisfied the public sector equality duty as well, only to find out that that may not be the case. I am sure the whole House would agree that when Parliament imposes obligations on bodies, it is not satisfactory that there should be confusion or lack of clarity as to their full extent. As I said, these amendments seek to address these issues.
Amendment 110 relates to the subject we have just been discussing: the mandatory transparency condition under Clause 9. Clause 9(2) relates to the information that will be sought, which covers most of the cycle of higher education provision including the number of applications for admission; the number of offers made by the provider in relation to these applications; the number of offers that were accepted; and the number of students who accepted those offers and who subsequently completed the course with that provider. Amendment 110 seeks to extend that to require the publication of information on the grade of degree that those who completed the course achieved.
In many respects, that is an important part of the information that would be provided, for obvious reasons. Look at the situation. It is all very well saying, “Here is the number of students who applied and here is the number with different characteristics”—I will come later to the characteristics that are relevant—“Here is the number who were given offers and here is the number who completed the course”, but it seems crucial to have some information as to what level of degree they achieved. For example, the information given to me is that, in 2013-14, a higher proportion of white undergraduate students achieved a First or a 2.1—76.3%—compared with 60.3% of ethnic-minority
undergraduate students. The gap was particularly high among male undergraduate students. As we well know, very often the higher the degree, the greater the potential for higher earnings at a subsequent stage. If one is seeking to embrace the Government’s objective of greater social mobility and employment for disadvantaged groups, it is important to have that information. If it shows disparity—and a continuing disparity—clearly that is something that the institutions need to address to see how they can achieve greater parity among different students from different backgrounds.
Amendment 112 relates to the characteristics for which information should be sought. At present, the Bill seeks information on the gender and ethnicity of the individuals to whom the numbers relate—it goes only as far as that. This takes me back to my original point. Those are only two of the personal characteristics that are covered by the Equality Act 2010. The amendment seeks to remove Clause 9(3)(a) and (b) and extend the definition to include,
“the particular protected characteristics of the individuals to which they relate”.
Amendment 117 defines “protected characteristics” as those listed in Section 149(7) of the Equality Act 2010. Again, this goes further than is proposed in the Bill, but it appears to me to be relevant. I seek to argue—and hope that the Government have some sympathy with this—that characteristics such as age, and perhaps particularly disability, are important, as well as ethnicity and gender. A Government who seek to address issues of discrimination against people with disabilities would, I hope, be sympathetic to including disabilities within the definition in Clause 9.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy last year asked the Director of Fair Access to target his focus on access, retention and outcomes for students with specific learning difficulties or mental health needs. There is a concern that this objective and very worthy goal could be compromised if the Office for Students does not in turn require higher education institutions to submit data on disability. The Minister in the other place said that it was a personal matter of self-declaration, and that seemed to be the barrier to including it here. However, all personal data, including those on gender and ethnicity are self-declared. Public bodies should be able to create the kind of environment where people feel safe and able to self-declare so that the data can be used and will be useful.
I hope that the Government will accept the spirit of this amendment. My concern is that if only two of the personal characteristics have been singled out, will higher education institutions feel that they have fulfilled their obligations in circumstances where other important personal characteristics are not also included?
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Amendment 111 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara, very much reflects the spirit of this. What it does not do is retain what is already in the Bill in subsection (3)(c) on “their socio-economic background”. It is worth while keeping that. I do not know if it was just oversight that it was taken
out. Otherwise, I think Amendment 111 sits fair and square with what is proposed in the amendments I have spoken to.
In a similar vein, the amendments to Clause 31 relate to the access and participation plans. Clause 12 will require an access and participation plan if a higher education institution seeks to be able to raise its fees. Again, the Government make a very worthy proposal in Clause 31, but when it relates to what the regulations might include, Clause 31(3)(d) talks about,
“setting out objectives relating to the promotion of equality of opportunity”.
Unfortunately, the promotion of equality of opportunity is nowhere defined in the Bill. Amendment 228 seeks to make it clear by adding the words,
“set by the institution in compliance with specific duties imposed under section 153 of the Equality Act 2010”.
Amendment 233 would add a further definition:
“The ‘promotion of equality of opportunity’ describes the matters set out in section 149(1)(a) to (c) of the Equality Act 2010”.
In other words, if the higher education institution already has a plan or is already doing things to honour and fulfil its public sector equality obligations under the Equality Act, it will be meeting the requirements under Clause 12. That should take away any dubiety or confusion, because one can certainly anticipate someone turning around and saying, “We have fulfilled the obligations under Clause 31. Does that not mean we have also done it under the Equality Act of 2010?”.
It is only fair that when we make laws in Parliament and impose important obligations on bodies, they are very clear as to their extent. There is a real concern that what we have here can lead to confusion. Although there is a considerable overlap here, it does not go as far as the Equality Act 2010. I think it would be regrettable—I hope it is not the Government’s intention—if the obligations of the 2010 Act were diluted in any way for higher education institutions. I beg to move.