Universities are autonomous institutions and are therefore responsible for curriculum development and capacity planning. It is primarily for individual institutions to assess and manage their capacity to meet student demand for specific programmes, including those in science and engineering.

The government recognises the critical importance of science and engineering degree programmes in driving the UK's innovation and economic growth. We have recently announced that for the 2025/26 financial year we will be investing £845 million via the Strategic Priorities Grant in high-cost subject funding, which supports universities to deliver courses in various priority subjects, including science and engineering.

Skills England is the new national body for skills and it will play a crucial role in identifying skills needs and meeting those to support economic growth. Skills England will work closely with the higher education sector to identify and address local, regional and national skills priorities, including the science and engineering provision that is strategically important for our country.

All children and young people should have the opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are from, which is why our mission is to break down barriers to opportunity.

High and rising standards are at the heart of this mission, delivered through excellent teaching and leadership, a high-quality curriculum and a system which removes the barriers to learning.

The department remains committed to ensuring all children and young people have a strong foundation in mathematics to thrive in the modern economy, regardless of gender.

The department has a number of initiatives in place aimed at helping schools to improve their curricula and to drive up mathematics attainment, such as the Maths Hub programme. This department-funded, school-led network aims to improve the teaching of mathematics for all pupils in publicly-funded schools. The Maths Hubs programme focusses on reducing attainment gaps, which may be associated with disadvantage, gender or other factors, by providing school-to-school support focussed on mathematics subject knowledge and pedagogy training for teachers.

The government is supporting schools to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related subjects and careers through programmes such as STEM ambassadors. Volunteers who are registered for this initiative actively engage with children and young people to spark their interest in STEM subjects and raise their awareness of the pathways into STEM careers through their personal experiences. Of these volunteers, 48% are women and 17% are from an ethnic minority background.

The department is a partner signatory to the Tomorrow’s Engineers Code pledging to work with the engineering community to improve the quality, targeting, inclusivity and reach of engineering inspiration activities. The Code is a framework for organisations working to increase the number and diversity of young people pursuing engineering careers.

Over the last few years, the department has invested in the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) to help improve the quality of computing education. The NCCE will continue to provide support to teachers of computing, ensuring they are equipped with the specialist knowledge they require to confidently teach the subject. The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review will consider how children will acquire the key digital skills needed for life and work. The department will look at how it can support teachers to adapt to any future curriculum changes.

The Science Learning Partnerships have made important contributions over the last few years, and the department greatly values the work they have done. However, the previous government decided to focus resources more tightly, resulting in ending the funding of Science Learning Partnerships. The department expects to continue support for those teaching physics outside of their specialism. There is a range of other support for science education in schools, including materials from Oak National Academy in all three sciences, and free and commercially available continued professional development. The department remains strongly committed to supporting science education and continues to support teachers, including through generous financial incentives and fully funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement training.

When a provider requests to change its name, a strict criteria and assessment process is followed. The provider will already have undergone considerable scrutiny when being awarded Degree Awarding Powers (DAPs), including input from quality experts, drawn from the sector, to test the provider against multiple criteria. Indefinite DAP’s status is the main eligibility test for providers to be able to go through the title process.

In this instance, the provider gained degree awarding powers in 2016 and so was able to apply for university title as per the rules set out in the Office for Students’ (OfS) ‘Regulatory advice 13: how to apply for university college and university title’, which is attached and also available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/regulatory-advice-13-how-to-apply-for-university-college-and-university-title/#:~:text=and%20university%20title-,Regulatory%20advice%2013%3A%20How%20to%20apply%20for%20university%20college%20and,as%20part%20of%20their%20name.

The department and the OfS were notified in September 2023 regarding the provider changing its name. When considering the proposed new name for a provider, the OfS must have due regard to the need to avoid names that are, or may be, confusing. In addition, in the instance of the newly named Health Sciences University, the OfS operated an open consultation on the proposed name. This ran from 22 February 2024 to 21 March 2024, and determined the regulator's final decision. The OfS approach is set out in their case report ‘Approval of proposed new name for AECC University College - Office for Students’, which is attached and can also be found at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/approval-of-proposed-new-name-for-aecc-university-college/.

In addition to the OfS process, regulations brought into force under the Companies Act 2006 means that the department has responsibility for confirming that it has no objection to the use of the sensitive word ‘university’ in a business name. The OfS published approval of the proposed new name from ‘AECC University College' to 'Health Sciences University’ in July 2024. The department then considered the request from the provider to change its name to ‘Health Sciences University’ and was satisfied that the use of the word ‘university’ was appropriate in this context. The department had no objection to the use of the term ‘university’ in the proposed business name ‘Health Sciences University’ and issued the provider with a non-objection letter on 18 July 2024.

During this consultation the OfS did not receive any responses questioning the merit of the subject area(s) of the provider.