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DfE confirms appointment, publishes report on English regulator and considers scrapping free speech act
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has confirmed that David Behan, former head of the Care Quality Commission, will be appointed interim chair of the Office for Students, the English higher education regulator.
It comes as Behan publishes the findings of his independent review of the OfS, which was commissioned last year by the former government, and as ministers consider repealing free speech legislation passed under the Conservatives.
Behan was chief executive of the Care Quality Commission from 2012 to 2018, and before that served as director general for social care in the Department of Health. He was the first chief inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection and was knighted in 2017 for his services to health and care.
On 26 July, Phillipson said Behan had conducted “a rigorous and thoughtful review”.
The review recommends a sharper regulatory focus on “key priorities, which include monitoring financial sustainability, ensuring quality, protecting public money and regulating in the interests of students,” Phillipson said.
“I also wish to announce that Sir David has been appointed as interim chair of the OfS,” she added. “His role will primarily be to work with the current executive to implement the recommendations of the independent review. The process to appoint a permanent chair has started and will conclude next year.”
James Wharton, a Tory peer who had been chair of the OfS since 2021, stood down following Labour’s landslide general election victory.
In her statement, Phillpson said the government would now “stop further commencement of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, in order to consider options, including its repeal”.
“I am aware of concerns that the Act would be burdensome on providers and on the OfS, and I will confirm my long-term plans as soon as possible,” she said. “To enable students to thrive in higher education, I welcome the OfS’s plans to introduce strengthened protections for students facing harassment and sexual misconduct, including relating to the use of non-disclosure agreements in such cases by universities and colleges.”