Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for student mental health services to meet the increased demand resulting from the covid-19 outbreak.

Protecting student and staff wellbeing is vital - these are difficult times and it is important students can still access the mental health and wellbeing support that they need. We recognise that many students are facing additional mental health challenges due to the disruption and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. I have engaged with universities on this issue, and have written to Vice Chancellors on numerous occasions, outlining that student welfare should be prioritised.

We have worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to provide Student Space, which has been funded with up to £3 million by the OfS. Student Space is a mental health and wellbeing platform, designed to work alongside existing services and to bridge gaps in support that arise from this unprecedented situation. This resource provides dedicated one-to-one phone, text and web chat facilities, as well as a collaborative online platform providing vital mental health and wellbeing resources.

Ensuring that students have access to high-quality mental health support is my top priority, which is why I asked the OfS to look at extending the platform. I am delighted that they have been able to extend the platform to support students for the whole 2020/21 academic year, because no student should be left behind at this challenging time.

Furthermore, we have asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in the academic year 2021/22 through proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities grant funding, to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target those students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable groups and hard to reach students.

The government has also worked closely with the OfS to help clarify that providers can draw upon existing funding to increase hardship funds and support disadvantaged students impacted by COVID-19. Providers are able to use the funding, worth around £256 million for the academic year 2020/21, towards student hardship funds, including the purchase of IT equipment, and mental health support, as well as to support providers’ access and participation plans. We have also made an additional £70 million of student hardship funding available to higher education providers this financial year.

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government has provided over £10 million to leading mental health charities including charities like Young Minds and Place 2 Be, which young people can access to support their mental health.

Students struggling with their mental health can also access support via online resources from the NHS, Public Health England via the mental health charity Mind and the Every Mind Matters website: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/.