HC Deb 08 June 2000 vol 351 cc347-8W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will issue guidance to institutions of(a) further and (b) higher education in respect of the admission of applicants with criminal records. [123249]

Mr. Wicks

In November 1999, the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) extended the funding of widening participation to new categories of student. One such category was ex-offenders. The Council has introduced a new code in the Individualised Student Record (ISR) to show that additional funding is being claimed for widening participation because the student is an ex-offender. Some colleges asked whether they would be required to ask all students at enrolment whether they were ex-offenders. The Council provided written advice to all colleges that this was not the case. Where a student's eligibility for widening participation emerges during their programme of study, the institution may amend its data and the additional funding will be allocated for the whole of the teaching year covered by the ISR return. Information provided on enrolment forms is collected and used by the FEFC for the collection and analysis of statistical data, and is shared with other organisations for the purposes of detecting fraud. The FEFC is registered under the Data Protection Act 1984. There are no plans for the introduction of guidance to further education institutions in respect of the criminal records of applicants for admissions at the present time.

In respect of Higher Education, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) application form includes a declaration by the applicant about criminal convictions. If this section is not completed, the form is returned to the applicant and it is not processed until it is. Institutions, however, may make their own decision about whether there are still concerns about an applicant.

The declaration was included in the application process two years ago in response to concerns that in a few instances victim and attacker had been accepted by the same institution. There is no guidance from UCAS to institutions about how they should deal with applicants with convictions—it is purely a matter for individual institutions. However, some professions have their own guidelines—for example, teaching and social work—which would guide institutions. The UCAS process also covers some further education institutions offering courses of higher education.