HC Deb 05 February 2004 vol 417 c1022W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many universities have widening participation units. [152661]

Alan Johnson

This information is not available centrally. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) does not collect information about the number of universities that have widening participation units. Most of the 131 higher education institutions funded by HEFCE have widening participation strategies, which set out how they intend to use their widening participation funding allocations. The organisational structure an institution puts in place to administer their strategy varies from institution to institution.

Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what international comparisons he has made between participation in higher education institutions in the UK from lower social groups and the situation in other countries. [152663]

Alan Johnson

My Department published a paper "Higher Education Funding—International Comparisons" on 12 December 2003, giving an overview of tuition fee, student support and widening participation arrangements in 13 OECD member countries. Copies of this paper are available in the Library of the House. This was followed by a further Departmental paper "Variable Fees—International Evidence" on 22 January this year, giving evidence on the effect of tuition fees on access in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.