Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when ministers last met representatives of the Office for Students to discuss the protection of students from sexual harassment, bullying and threats of violence at universities.

There is no place in our society, including within higher education, for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.

Higher education providers have clear responsibilities, including under the Equality Act (2010). They should have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law and to protect against violence, bullying, discrimination and harassment.

The government has tasked the Office for Students (OfS) to tackle these important issues at a sector level and to make campuses places of tolerance for all students. The OfS was set up to champion students and it is right that they work closely with higher education providers on these issues.

The OfS and its predecessor body allocated £4.7 million for a safeguarding scheme to address harassment and hate crime in higher education, including 63 projects with a specific focus on sexual violence and misconduct.

The OfS has commissioned an external evaluation of this scheme and, in June this year, published its ’Catalyst for change’ report, attached, which includes recommendations for providers on how they can address the issue of hate crime, sexual violence and online harassment alongside a range of resources on their website. The OfS has held several conferences on harassment issues to support providers and share good practice. It will hold a series of roundtables in 2019-20 to examine key issues relating to student welfare and safeguarding, including reporting, monitoring and evaluation of approaches.

Ministers and officials in the department regularly meet the OfS, stakeholders and representative bodies about a range of student experience issues, including student safeguarding. This includes specific quarterly meetings with the OfS to discuss how to tackle harassment and hate crime within the sector.

The government will continue to work closely with the OfS to prioritise the tackling of all forms of harassment and hate crime in higher education.