FOI Request - Spreadsheets for Data used in Annex C of a report by OFFA (2010) - Preferably Updated up to 2013:2014

The request was successful.

Dear Higher Education Funding Council for England,

I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

In 2010, OFFA commissioned HEFCE to do some research for a report they did entitled "What more can be done to widen access to highly selective Universities?" Your research was published in Annex C of OFFA's report (pp. 94-113) and can be accessed here: http://www.offa.org.uk/wp-content/upload....

Amongst other things, your research outlined differences in the University participation rate of Polar 2 Quintile 5 young people relative to that of Polar 2 Quintile 1 + Quintile 2 young people, broken down by the entry tariff group ("higher", "medium" or "lower") of the Universities they were admitted to, for the years 1994-2010 (See Figure 12, P. 112).

I am writing to request in Excel spreadsheet format, the actual data which was used to make the graph in Figure 12, namely:

(1) The overall number of participants from Polar 2 Quintiles (a) 5, (b) 4, (c) 3, (d) 2 and (e) 1; broken down for each into (a) higher, (b) medium and (c) lower entry tariff Universities.

(2) I would like this data for the years shown in Figure 12 (94:95 through to 09:10). However, if possible I would also like the same data updated beyond 2010, for all the years leading up to the latest academic year for which data is currently available.

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Stephens.

Dear Higher Education Funding Council for England,

Further to the above, I note that in my original FOI request I say the Annex C report is based on Polar 2 figures. This is not, in retrospect, clear from the report - which states that local areas are classified into five groups based on the likelihood of individuals having a HE-qualified parent, with the most deprived 20% least likely and the least deprived 20% most likely; and makes no mention of Polar 2.

To clarify, I would like data which is based on the measure of deprivation used in the Annex C report - whether that be based on Polar 2, or otherwise.

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Stephens

Alison Madge (HEFCE), Higher Education Funding Council for England

Dear Mr Stephens

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. We will respond to your request as soon as possible and no later than 20 working days as required by the Act.

Best wishes
Alison

Alison Madge
Information Rights Manager
Higher Education Funding Council for England
Northavon House, Coldharbour Lane
Bristol, BS16 1QD

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Alison Madge (HEFCE), Higher Education Funding Council for England

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 –
F2014/2001

 

Dear Mr Stephens

 

Thank you for your emails of 06 September  requesting data used in Annex C
of OFFA’s 2010  report ‘What more can be done to widen access to highly
selective universities?’. I have now had an opportunity to discuss your
request with colleagues in our Analytical Services Department and they
have advised that HEFCE no longer holds the data behind the 2010 report.
OFFA have since published an updated version of the analysis (2014/01
[1]http://www.offa.org.uk/wp-content/upload...).
This updated version covers the time period specified in your request as
well as more recent data. I have confirmed with OFFA that they can provide
you with the data behind this later report and, if you are happy to
proceed on this basis, I will forward your request to OFFA’s FOI officer.

 

Best wishes,

Alison

 

 

Alison Madge

Information Rights Manager

Higher Education Funding Council for England

Northavon House, Coldharbour Lane

Bristol, BS16 1QD

 

 

 

 

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Dear Alison,

Thanks for your reply. Please do forward the request to OFFA's FOI officer to provide the figures behind their report.

Best Wishes,

Tom Stephens.

Alison Madge (HEFCE), Higher Education Funding Council for England

Dear Tom

Thank you, I have forwarded your request to Laurie Haynes. In case you need to contact him, Laurie's email address is: [email address]

Best wishes
Alison

Alison Madge
Information Rights Manager
Higher Education Funding Council for England
Northavon House, Coldharbour Lane
Bristol, BS16 1QD

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Laurie Haynes (HEFCE),

2 Attachments

  • Attachment

    Freedom of Information request FOI Request Spreadsheets for Data used in Annex C of a report by OFFA 2010 Preferably Updated up to 2013 2014.txt

    2K Download View as HTML

  • Attachment

    OFFA F1400056 YPbySelectivity.xlsx

    19K Download View as HTML

Dear Thomas

 

Following your consent dated 12^th September, by agreement with HEFCE, the
Office for Fair Access has taken ownership of the response to a request
for information from you, dated the 6^th September.

 

Please find attached the data as an Excel workbook which we understand is
the format you requested.

 

We have attached the data split by year, participation quintile, and
institution selectivity. The data is from our 2014 report "Trends in young
participation by student background and selectivity of institution", which
is an update to the original 2010 report. In response to your question
about the nature of the deprivation measure - the report uses quintiles
based on the proportion of young people in each census ward who have a
parent with a higher education qualification, which is different to POLAR.

 

We have been unable to update the data to 2013-14 as this data is not
available from HESA yet, and the report's dataset would take a substantial
duration to update even with available data.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Laurie Haynes
Finance and Governance Manager

The Office for Fair Access
Northavon House

Coldharbour Lane

Bristol BS16 1QD

Tel: 0117 9317146

 

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