Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students have died by suicide at each UK university in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why we continue to work closely with Universities UK (UUK) on embedding the Step Change programme within the sector. Step Change calls on higher education (HE) leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and adopt a whole-institution approach to mental health, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice.
In addition, the government actively backs the introduction of a sector-led University Mental Health Charter, launched in June 2018. This will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing. It will invite universities to meet high standards of practice, including in areas such as leadership, early intervention and data collection.
HE institutions (HEI) have legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for HEIs to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support.
The information requested is not held centrally regarding student suicide. However, in June 2018, the Office for National Statistics released experimental statistics estimating suicide among higher education students in England and Wales which can be found following this link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2018-06-25.
The government has worked with UUK, the Office for Students, and other stakeholders to develop guidance on measures to help prevent suicide and deal sensitively with issues that may arise when tragedy does occur. This guidance was published in September 2018, ahead of the 2018/19 academic year.
As independent and autonomous bodies, HEIs are responsible for decisions regarding required training for their staff and have a duty of care to their staff, like all employers, as well as to their students.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve student (a) wellbeing and (b) mental health.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why we continue to work closely with Universities UK (UUK) on embedding the Step Change programme within the sector. Step Change calls on higher education (HE) leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and adopt a whole-institution approach to mental health, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice.
In addition, the government actively backs the introduction of a sector-led University Mental Health Charter, launched in June 2018. This will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing. It will invite universities to meet high standards of practice, including in areas such as leadership, early intervention and data collection.
HE institutions (HEI) have legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for HEIs to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support.
The information requested is not held centrally regarding student suicide. However, in June 2018, the Office for National Statistics released experimental statistics estimating suicide among higher education students in England and Wales which can be found following this link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2018-06-25.
The government has worked with UUK, the Office for Students, and other stakeholders to develop guidance on measures to help prevent suicide and deal sensitively with issues that may arise when tragedy does occur. This guidance was published in September 2018, ahead of the 2018/19 academic year.
As independent and autonomous bodies, HEIs are responsible for decisions regarding required training for their staff and have a duty of care to their staff, like all employers, as well as to their students.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training in health and wellbeing is required of university lecturers.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why we continue to work closely with Universities UK (UUK) on embedding the Step Change programme within the sector. Step Change calls on higher education (HE) leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and adopt a whole-institution approach to mental health, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice.
In addition, the government actively backs the introduction of a sector-led University Mental Health Charter, launched in June 2018. This will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing. It will invite universities to meet high standards of practice, including in areas such as leadership, early intervention and data collection.
HE institutions (HEI) have legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for HEIs to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support.
The information requested is not held centrally regarding student suicide. However, in June 2018, the Office for National Statistics released experimental statistics estimating suicide among higher education students in England and Wales which can be found following this link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2018-06-25.
The government has worked with UUK, the Office for Students, and other stakeholders to develop guidance on measures to help prevent suicide and deal sensitively with issues that may arise when tragedy does occur. This guidance was published in September 2018, ahead of the 2018/19 academic year.
As independent and autonomous bodies, HEIs are responsible for decisions regarding required training for their staff and have a duty of care to their staff, like all employers, as well as to their students.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding he has allocated to the Share Foundation's recovery programmes for Child Trust Fund accounts.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Education has provided the Share Foundation with funding totalling £531,624 for administering the Junior Individual Savings Accounts scheme for children in care and care leavers. It does not provide funding for recovery programmes for Child Trust Funds.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to improve adult literacy rates.
Answered by Anne Milton
This government recognises the importance of English, both in work and everyday life. That is why we provide full funding for adult learners in England to secure English qualifications from entry level to level 2.
To raise standards of adult literacy, we are reforming English Functional Skills qualifications, which are accessed primarily by adults. This will make sure that these qualifications are more rigorous and better recognised by employers.
Through the Flexible Learning Fund, we are investing over £11 million to design and test ways of delivering learning to adults with low or intermediate skills more flexibly.