Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has held recent discussions with universities on student mental health.

It is a priority for the government that students are provided with the mental health support they need. The department engages regularly with universities and the broader higher education (HE) sector in pursuit of this goal.

We have made clear to the sector that our approach to supporting student mental health has three pillars:

• Funding vital services and innovative projects via the Office for Students.
• Spreading and implementing best practice consistently across providers.
• Clear responsibilities for providers and protection for students, with solutions developed by the Student Support Champion.

I recently met with Universities UK (UUK), who represent 115 English Universities, to inform them of the department’s ambitions for the sector on mental health going forward. On 5 June 2023, I wrote to all university leaders, asking for their strongest possible commitment to the mental health of our students, including by showing ownership of mental health at an executive level. The department set a target for universities to sign up to the Mental Health Charter by September 2024, so universities take a whole-university approach to mental health and wellbeing and follow the principles set out in the Mental Health Charter.

We also made clear to the sector that we expect them to follow relevant best practice guidance shared with them by UUK and mental health experts.

The department will be engaging with the sector on implementation of best practice through the Higher Education Mental Health Taskforce. I have asked Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck to lead this, working with the sector, parents and students, and mental health experts. The Taskforce will set strong, clear, and measurable targets on which HE providers will report. The Taskforce will conclude its work with a final report in May next year, having produced an interim plan by the end of this year.

I will be chairing a roundtable with university and wider HE leaders to explore how the sector can make further improvements on mental health support, working alongside mental health experts and government.