Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a suicide prevention strategy aimed at (a) school and (b) university students.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to reducing the numbers of lives lost to suicide, including through prevention in educational institutions.
The Department of Health and Social Care published a Prevention Strategy for England on 11 September 2023 with over 130 actions aimed at reducing the suicide rate. The strategy also sets ambitions to improve support for people who self-harm and people who have been bereaved by suicide. As part of the strategy, a number of groups have been identified for consideration for tailored or targeted action at a national level, including children and young people.
Guidance to schools is reviewed regularly, including the statutory ‘Keeping children safe in education’ guidance that all schools must have regard to. Amongst other things, the guidance sets out the role all staff must play in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, including identifying where mental health concerns are also safeguarding concerns and making appropriate referrals into early help support services and statutory support services as appropriate.
The statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), which came into force in September 2020, advises that schools should approach teaching about self-harm and suicide carefully and should be aware of the risks to pupils from exposure to materials that are instructive rather than preventative, including websites or videos that provide instructions or methods of self-harm or suicide. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
The department is currently reviewing the RSHE guidance and as part of this process the department will explore whether additional content is required on suicide prevention.
The National Review of Higher Education Student Suicides will report with important lessons for better supporting students and preventing tragedies in higher education (HE) settings in the spring. This will be published alongside updated data on HE student suicides from the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the suicide rate amongst male university students.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is breaking down barriers to opportunity by ensuring young people receive the mental health support they deserve. It is vital that higher education (HE) students are supported to achieve and thrive during their time at university.
Figures on non-continuation following year one of entry to HE are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency for full-time first-degree entrants starting courses between the 2014/15 and 2019/20 academic years. Further information is available in Table T3 at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators/non-continuation.
More recent information on continuation rates, which are the inverse of non-continuation, for first year full-time degree entrants entering HE are published by the Office for Students (OfS). This is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/data-dashboard/.
The proportion of UK domiciled student enrolments to HE providers who declared a mental health condition, such as depression, schizophrenia or anxiety disorder, was 5.6% in the 2022/23 academic year, compared with 1.8% in 2014/15. Although specific data on the number of students who have left their course due to a mental health issue is not known, we are determined that action is taken so students can maximise the opportunity to study in HE.
This government has committed to recruiting 8,500 additional staff across children and adult NHS mental health services.
To drive meaningful change in HE mental health support, the HE Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck, is chairing the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce. The taskforce includes representatives from students, parents, mental health experts and the HE sector. The taskforce published its second stage report in December, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/higher-education-mental-health-implementation-taskforce.
We appointed the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health to undertake a National Review of HE Student Suicides. This review has seen excellent engagement from universities and will publish its report in the spring, with a focus on highlighting lessons learned and recommendations for better prevention of student suicides.
Sep. 13 2024
Source Page: Student Mental Health Action PlanFound: The Student Mental Health Action Plan acknowledges these challenges and places student wellbeing at
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of university students left their university courses early due to mental health issues in the 2024-25 academic year.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is breaking down barriers to opportunity by ensuring young people receive the mental health support they deserve. It is vital that higher education (HE) students are supported to achieve and thrive during their time at university.
Figures on non-continuation following year one of entry to HE are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency for full-time first-degree entrants starting courses between the 2014/15 and 2019/20 academic years. Further information is available in Table T3 at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators/non-continuation.
More recent information on continuation rates, which are the inverse of non-continuation, for first year full-time degree entrants entering HE are published by the Office for Students (OfS). This is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/data-dashboard/.
The proportion of UK domiciled student enrolments to HE providers who declared a mental health condition, such as depression, schizophrenia or anxiety disorder, was 5.6% in the 2022/23 academic year, compared with 1.8% in 2014/15. Although specific data on the number of students who have left their course due to a mental health issue is not known, we are determined that action is taken so students can maximise the opportunity to study in HE.
This government has committed to recruiting 8,500 additional staff across children and adult NHS mental health services.
To drive meaningful change in HE mental health support, the HE Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck, is chairing the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce. The taskforce includes representatives from students, parents, mental health experts and the HE sector. The taskforce published its second stage report in December, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/higher-education-mental-health-implementation-taskforce.
We appointed the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health to undertake a National Review of HE Student Suicides. This review has seen excellent engagement from universities and will publish its report in the spring, with a focus on highlighting lessons learned and recommendations for better prevention of student suicides.
Found: link together to cause me concern over the risk of people being pressurised into opting for assisted suicide
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of potential implications for her policies of the proportion of university students who leave their university courses early due to mental health issues.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is breaking down barriers to opportunity by ensuring young people receive the mental health support they deserve. It is vital that higher education (HE) students are supported to achieve and thrive during their time at university.
Figures on non-continuation following year one of entry to HE are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency for full-time first-degree entrants starting courses between the 2014/15 and 2019/20 academic years. Further information is available in Table T3 at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators/non-continuation.
More recent information on continuation rates, which are the inverse of non-continuation, for first year full-time degree entrants entering HE are published by the Office for Students (OfS). This is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/data-dashboard/.
The proportion of UK domiciled student enrolments to HE providers who declared a mental health condition, such as depression, schizophrenia or anxiety disorder, was 5.6% in the 2022/23 academic year, compared with 1.8% in 2014/15. Although specific data on the number of students who have left their course due to a mental health issue is not known, we are determined that action is taken so students can maximise the opportunity to study in HE.
This government has committed to recruiting 8,500 additional staff across children and adult NHS mental health services.
To drive meaningful change in HE mental health support, the HE Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck, is chairing the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce. The taskforce includes representatives from students, parents, mental health experts and the HE sector. The taskforce published its second stage report in December, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/higher-education-mental-health-implementation-taskforce.
We appointed the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health to undertake a National Review of HE Student Suicides. This review has seen excellent engagement from universities and will publish its report in the spring, with a focus on highlighting lessons learned and recommendations for better prevention of student suicides.
Found: Please do not take my student status as a lack of experience, as I am a mature student and have also
Written Evidence Mar. 13 2025
Inquiry: Community Mental Health ServicesFound: Student Minds (Registered Charity Number 1142783) is the United Kingdom’s student mental health charity
Mentions:
1: Esther McVey (Con - Tatton) I beg to move,That this House has considered the matter of suicide and mental health of young people - Speech Link
2: Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) We have made suicide prevention and mental health a priority, especially for young people. - Speech Link
3: Helen Grant (Con - Maidstone and Malling) Over the past 10 years in England and Wales, one student has died every four days as a result of suicide - Speech Link
Found: mental health campaigner with a focus on improving the mental health of young people and preventing suicide