Academic Freedom

As my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Security said in the House of Lords on 16 December, the Home Office plans to lay the regulations that underpin the scheme in early 2025, ahead of the scheme going live in the summer. The department is keeping implementation of the overseas transparency measures under review whilst we work with the sector to assess their approaches to managing these risks, and to ensure that any new reporting requirements are proportionate and add value to existing and upcoming protections. We expect a decision on the overseas measures to be made before the implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not conducted an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging higher education (HE) institutions to adopt The Chicago Principles. HE providers are independent institutions and adopting the principles would be a matter for them individually.

However, the implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, in the manner set out by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education in her oral statement on 15 January 2025, will seek to achieve many of the same underlying values, including commitment to free and open enquiry in all matters, ensuring the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge and learn, and a solemn responsibility to debate and protect freedom of expression when others attempt to restrict it.