Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Students given stronger protections against extremism on campus, published on 8 March 2026, how many university students have been referred under the Prevent duty in each year since 2020.

The Home Office publishes overall Prevent referrals by sector but does not break down the ‘Education’ category between schools, colleges, and universities. However, the Office for Students publishes annual Prevent monitoring data for higher education providers here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/prevent-monitoring-summary-of-2023-24-accountability-and-data-returns/.

This includes formal external Prevent referrals. The most recent reporting period 2023/2024 indicates that universities made 65 Prevent referrals, but it does not indicate how many of the individuals involved were students versus staff.