Friday 04-06-2021 - 13:05

The Bill was presented in the House of Commons on 12 May 2021. It seeks to bring forward a range of measures aimed at “strengthening and extending existing legislation on freedom of speech and academic freedom in higher education”.

 

NUS Charity has been meeting regularly with an SU working group and with stakeholders from across the sector, including UUK and the OIA.

We’ve outlined some of our main concerns which we would like clarity on:

 

The proposal for the OfS to regulate students’ unions on matters of freedom of speech

• As most HE students’ unions are charities in their own right and therefore regulated by the Charity Commission in regards to their activities (including regarding external speakers and current freedom of speech legislation), what conversations have taken place with the Charity Commission in regards to a potential “dual regulation” on this issue with two separate regulators? Has a memorandum of understanding been developed?
• What moderation/monitoring of decisions within the OfS will be in place when any issue arises?

The proposal for the OfS to deal with complaints around freedom of speech at universities

• How will a dual track complaints procedure work? Complaints when made to universities are usually put to the OIA once all internal complaints procedures have been followed.
•  If an individual wants to use the OfS route to complain about a freedom of speech issue, will all internal complaints procedures at the institution have to be exhausted before a complaint can be made? If not the OfS route becomes a Fastrack.
• What will happen to complicated complaints that have an element of a freedom of speech issue, such as no progression due to perceived bias? Will these have to go to the OIA instead of, or in addition to the OfS? Can the same case be heard by both organisations? How will a decision be reached if that is the case?
• What powers of rectification beyond a financial penalty or compensation will the OfS have, if any?

 

Penalties for a breach of freedom of speech legislation

• Will there be a minimum and maximum amount that individuals can claim if they feel their freedom of speech has been oppressed?
• Will the OfS award any penalties beyond actual costs incurred (e.g. travel costs to a cancelled event)
• Will it be possible for an OfS judgement to be used in civil proceedings or will the adjudication close the matter?
• Would penalties be imposed on individuals or just institutions or students’ unions? For example, if the chair of a society did not follow university or students’ union procedure when inviting a speaker who later had to be disinvited once due process was followed, would that individual be at fault, even though the university and students’ union were unaware and had appropriate procedures in place?

Other issues we would like clarity on

• Will the Act contain clear examples of Speech that is allowed and what is not. Without it, consistency between the OFS and Charity Commission will be difficult. The Universities Minister has already caused controversy by suggesting Holocaust denial would be permitted (which the government soon clarified would not be the case) but what else may become an issue?
• The Bill’s impact assessment states the likely costs that the implementation of the Bill will occur. We would like clarity on a breakdown of the the almost £5,000,000 a year figure the government has proposed.  Does it include the extra insurance that Unions and institutions will take out, potential fines, or an increase in Subject access requests from disgruntled speakers?
• Will this legislation lead to the opposite effect, where universities and students’ unions feel the risk of inviting speakers is potentially too great?
• Who will shoulder the responsibility for controversial speaker’s security requirements and their costs? There has been rare cases where a security detail’s costs have been much too high for an individual society or even the students’ union to pay.