DEPARTMENT FOR
INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release (066/2008) issued
by COI News Distribution Service. 24 October 2008
An independent
report which makes recommendations to the Government on improving
regulation and reducing bureaucracy in England's higher
education sector was today welcomed by Lord Tony Young.
The Government has accepted the recommendations from the Higher
Education Regulation Review Group (HERRG) which produced the
report. The group's work on promoting better regulation
within the higher education sector will now be taken forward by
the sector itself.
Lord Young, the ministerial champion for better regulation in
higher education, said:
"I'm very grateful for the Higher Education Regulation
Review Group's efforts and for the significant improvements
that its members have brought to cut unnecessary red tape in
higher education.
"They have achieved their main objective to deliver systemic
improvement to the way higher education in this country is
regulated. Despite this success, the Government remains committed
to working with our universities and colleges to ensure that
regulation in the higher education continues to improve and all
unnecessary bureaucracy is removed."
Steve Bundred, the chair of HERRG, said:
"There have now been six years of sustained effort to ease
the burden of regulation on universities and concern about
excessive or unduly intrusive regulatory requirements within the
sector has now greatly diminished. The key bodies that regulate
the sector have become signatories to the Higher Education
Concordat promoted by HERRG, and appear fully committed to its
principles. HERRG is proud of the contribution it has made to
these substantial improvements in the regulation of universities
and colleges"
"I am pleased HE sector itself is now taking clear ownership
of arrangements for identifying and resolving new concerns about
regulation that may arise in the future and will soon decide what
those arrangements should be."
Steve Bundred has recommended that HERRG should not be
reconstituted as it has accomplished what it was set out to do.
Further progress will be made by universities and colleges working
together under the leadership of Universities UK and Guild HE,
working with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
Notes to editors
1. The Government's full response to Steve Bundred's
report from HERRG, together with the report itself can be viewed
at http://www.dius.gov.uk/policy/he_better_reg.html
2. HERRG was established by Ministers from the former Department
for Education and Skills (DfES) in summer 2004. Members are drawn
from the ranks of senior university managers under the independent
chairmanship of Steve Bundred, Chief Executive of the Audit
Commission. HERRG originally had a two year lifespan, but was
extended for a further two years in 2006 with refreshed membership.
3. The HERRG had a mandate to review policies for their
regulatory impact on Higher Education in England regardless of
departmental origin, to explore existing areas of bureaucratic
demand and to recommend ways of doing things better.