A Norwich university's students' union says a consultation which will look at fining universities that infringe on free speech misses a chance to address real concerns for young people.

Jo Johnson, universities minister, yesterday said universities should guarantee freedom of speech or risk facing action from new regulator the Office for Students (OfS).

It comes as part of a consultation into the role of the OfS, which will come into force next April and which the Department for Education has said will put the 'student interest at its heart'.

Many have said it could stop student unions censoring who speaks at universities – but Jack Robinson, campaigns and democracy officer at the University of East Anglia's (UEA) Students' Union, said, in reality, it would make little difference.

'The minister talks tough, but in truth he's rehashing a duty that has been on universities to protect freedom of speech since 1986 – presumably to divert attention away from the disastrous student funding system that he champions,' he said.

'It certainly won't stop students deciding for themselves what they want to sell in their shop, or deciding not to invite someone to an event because they are proponents of hate speech.'

He added that the consultation – which includes a proposal to see senior university staff's salaries published – missed a chance to address real concerns for students.

'It's called an Office for Students but there's not much in the 177-page document that addresses students' and their families' concerns about £9,000 fees and value for money,' he said.

He said students were facing a 'raft of hidden costs and charges', the 'rocketing cost of accommodation' and shared concerns with locals about university expansion, and that the union would prefer to see a focus on real worries.

Mr Johnson said his call came after examples of 'censorship where groups have sought to stifle those who do not agree with them'.

In November 2014, the students' union at UEA postponed a visit from Steve Emmens, then the UKIP candidate for Norwich South, while it sought to balance free speech and a challenge to his views, after more than 1,100 people signed a petition for it to be rescheduled off campus.