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1646702

registered interest
date	22/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have received an Education, Health and Care plan from their local authority in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	190794
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2023 answer text <p>The requested information is available in the National Statistics publication on Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, accessible at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans</a>. The latest available data shows 66,400 new EHC plans were made across the 152 local authorities in England during the 2022 calendar year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 30/06/2023 13:48:44 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1646703

registered interest
date	22/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money has been allocated to local authorities to produce Education, Health and Care plans in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	190795
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2023 answer text <p>The government continues to support local authorities with their core budgets, which have increased to £59.7 billion for the next financial year. Local authorities have the flexibility to spend according to local needs and priorities, including to undertake Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments.</p><p>Where an EHC plan is issued by a local authority, the local authority is under a statutory duty to secure the special educational provision set out in the EHC plan. Local areas will have their own arrangements to allocate the funding necessary to secure this provision, using the local authority’s High Needs Budget.</p><p>High needs revenue funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is increasing to £10.1 billion for the 2023/24 financial year, which is an increase of nearly £1 billion from last year’s allocations and over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations.</p><p>Every local authority in England will see a minimum per-head increase of 9.8% in their total high needs allocations in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23.</p><p>The local authority must complete the whole EHC process as soon as practicable, and in any event, within 20 weeks of the local authority receiving a request for an EHC needs assessment, as per The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.</p><p>Information on EHC plans is collected as part of the annual Special Education Needs 2 (SEN2) data collection and is published in the ‘Education, Health and Care Plans’ statistical publication, available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans</a>.</p><p>The department does not currently hold the average length of time that an EHC plan takes to be drafted for an individual child. To provide this would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho grouped question UIN 190796 190797 question first answered 30/06/2023 13:24:13 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1646704

registered interest
date	22/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of unfunded Education, Health and Care plans for children in England in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	190796
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2023 answer text <p>The government continues to support local authorities with their core budgets, which have increased to £59.7 billion for the next financial year. Local authorities have the flexibility to spend according to local needs and priorities, including to undertake Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments.</p><p>Where an EHC plan is issued by a local authority, the local authority is under a statutory duty to secure the special educational provision set out in the EHC plan. Local areas will have their own arrangements to allocate the funding necessary to secure this provision, using the local authority’s High Needs Budget.</p><p>High needs revenue funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is increasing to £10.1 billion for the 2023/24 financial year, which is an increase of nearly £1 billion from last year’s allocations and over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations.</p><p>Every local authority in England will see a minimum per-head increase of 9.8% in their total high needs allocations in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23.</p><p>The local authority must complete the whole EHC process as soon as practicable, and in any event, within 20 weeks of the local authority receiving a request for an EHC needs assessment, as per The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.</p><p>Information on EHC plans is collected as part of the annual Special Education Needs 2 (SEN2) data collection and is published in the ‘Education, Health and Care Plans’ statistical publication, available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans</a>.</p><p>The department does not currently hold the average length of time that an EHC plan takes to be drafted for an individual child. To provide this would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho grouped question UIN 190795 190797 question first answered 30/06/2023 13:24:14 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1646705

registered interest
date	22/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the average length of time that an Education, Health and Care plan takes to be drafted for an individual child.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	190797
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2023 answer text <p>The government continues to support local authorities with their core budgets, which have increased to £59.7 billion for the next financial year. Local authorities have the flexibility to spend according to local needs and priorities, including to undertake Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments.</p><p>Where an EHC plan is issued by a local authority, the local authority is under a statutory duty to secure the special educational provision set out in the EHC plan. Local areas will have their own arrangements to allocate the funding necessary to secure this provision, using the local authority’s High Needs Budget.</p><p>High needs revenue funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is increasing to £10.1 billion for the 2023/24 financial year, which is an increase of nearly £1 billion from last year’s allocations and over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations.</p><p>Every local authority in England will see a minimum per-head increase of 9.8% in their total high needs allocations in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23.</p><p>The local authority must complete the whole EHC process as soon as practicable, and in any event, within 20 weeks of the local authority receiving a request for an EHC needs assessment, as per The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.</p><p>Information on EHC plans is collected as part of the annual Special Education Needs 2 (SEN2) data collection and is published in the ‘Education, Health and Care Plans’ statistical publication, available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans</a>.</p><p>The department does not currently hold the average length of time that an EHC plan takes to be drafted for an individual child. To provide this would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho grouped question UIN 190795 190796 question first answered 30/06/2023 13:24:14 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1646400

registered interest
date	21/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Deep Sea Mining: Skilled Workers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the UK skills base to support deep sea mining.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	190590
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2023 answer text <p>The department’s skills reforms in England provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to get good jobs and progress in their careers.</p><p>The department is building a skills system that is employer focused, high-quality and fit for the future, and is flexible enough to lead to more people completing courses that meet employers’ needs in all sectors. This ambitious skills agenda is backed by £3.8 billion of investment over this Parliament. The department is using this to expand and strengthen higher and further education, ensuring skills training is aligned to the needs of employers to enable communities to thrive and support more people to complete an apprenticeship.</p><p>The department is working with industry to shape our training offers, creating more routes into skilled employment in key economic sectors, including engineering, which may be relevant to deep sea mining.</p><p>The department’s high-quality apprenticeships are supporting people of all ages with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start, or progress in, an exciting career in engineering and manufacturing. Employers in the sector can access over 150 high-quality apprenticeship standards to meet their skills needs.</p><p>T Levels are strengthening vocational options for young people finishing their GCSEs. These two-year, technical qualifications are designed with relevant employers, and are equivalent in size to three A levels.</p><p>The department is delivering reforms to increase the profile, prestige and uptake of higher technical education. Central to our reforms is the introduction of Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). HTQs are current, and new, level 4 and 5 qualifications, approved and quality-marked by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) as providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers.</p><p>HTQ rollout is on track with 172 approved qualifications being delivered between September 2022 to September 2024. From September 2024, there will be 23 HTQs in Engineering &amp; Manufacturing, of which courses such as mechanical and/or electrical engineering will contain relevant skills to deep sea mining.</p><p>The Free Courses for Jobs offer, which was launched in April 2021, allows eligible adults to access over 400 Level 3 qualifications, A level equivalent, for free. Qualifications are available that support workers in all sectors.</p><p>As part of our Local Skills Improvement Plan programme, which aims to better align skills provision to the needs of local employers, the North-East Chamber of Commerce have been looking at subsea engineering skills as part of their focus on the green energy sector.</p><p>High quality careers information, advice and guidance is key to helping people to make informed decisions about their future, including being able to find out about and consider the different options available to them. The Careers &amp; Enterprise Company (CEC) is supporting schools and colleges to embed best practice in the delivery of careers information, advice and guidance, so that young people are aware of the full range of training and careers available to them and have access to a broad range of employers and workplaces, including those in the construction sectors. This will be delivered through the national roll-out of Career Hubs, Career Leader training, and the Enterprise Adviser Network.</p><p>The National Careers Service website gives customers access to a range of useful digital tools and resources to support them. This includes ‘Explore Careers’ which provides information on more than 130 industry areas and more than 800 job profiles, including a range of key sector careers available. Descriptions of what those roles entail, qualifications and entry routes are also included. The content team regularly researches and updates content and welcomes updates from industry to ensure content is accurate and up to date.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon question first answered 29/06/2023 10:53:04 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1641201

registered interest
date	02/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding allocations her Department provides for schools outside the voluntary aided and state sector.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	187165
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2023 answer text <p>The Department allocates various funding streams in respect of pupils of compulsory school age (5-16) in schools outside the voluntary aided and state sector. Some of these streams also apply to pupils aged above 16. For the purposes of this response, maintained schools, academies (including free schools), and community technical colleges are considered to be part of the state sector. Where funding is provided to schools outside the state sector, it is predominantly provided to non-maintained special schools (NMSS) and, in some cases, to independent schools in respect of pupils for whom a Local Authority pay full tuition fees.</p><p>High needs place funding is allocated to non-maintained special schools (NMSS) directly by the Department and paid at £10,000 per place. Further details on high needs place funding is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-allocated-place-numbers" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-allocated-place-numbers</a>. The total place funding for NMSS for the 2022/23 academic year was £38 million. Local Authorities also spend a portion of their high needs block allocations on placements in NMSS and independent schools. Further detail at Local Authority level is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/section-251-materials" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/section-251-materials</a>.</p><p>The Pupil Premium grant provides additional funding for NMSS for raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities to help them reach their potential, and provides support for pupils with parents in the regular armed forces. The Pupil Premium grant is also provided for eligible pupils in independent schools, where the Local Authority pays full tuition fees. Allocations are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2023-to-2024" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2023-to-2024</a>.</p><p>The Department provides funding for tutoring through the National Tutoring Programme. It is provided to NMSS, and to Local Authorities for eligible pupils in independent special schools, where the Local Authority pays full tuition fees. Allocations are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-tutoring-programme-ntp-allocations-for-2023-to-2024-academic-year.</p><p>The PE and Sport Premium is a ring-fenced grant to primary schools, and other educational establishments with primary aged children, including NMSS. Further details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pe-and-sport-premium-conditions-of-grant-2022-to-2023.</p><p>The Recovery Premium is a time limited grant which is providing over £300 million of additional funding for schools in the 2021/22 academic year and £1 billion across the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years. It is provided to NMSS, and to Local Authorities for eligible pupils in independent special schools, where the Local Authority pays full tuition fees. Details on allocations and conditions of the grant are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-recovery-premium-funding-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2022-to-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-recovery-premium-funding-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2022-to-2023</a>.</p><p>NMSS receive Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) funding, as they have a duty to provide free school meals to eligible pupils. This includes the provision of UIFSM to pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Provisional allocations to NMSS for UIFSM amounted to £34,000 for the 2022/23 academic year.</p><p>The Department also provides capital funding for schools outside the voluntary aided and state sector. In March 2022, the Department announced £1.4 billion in High Needs Provisional Capital Allocations to support Local Authorities to deliver new places for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years and improve existing provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities or who require Alternative Provision. It is for Local Authorities to determine how to use this funding to address their local priorities, but they can use this funding for new places in any school or institution in their area, including NMSS. Further details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-provision-capital-allocations.</p><p>The Department further allocates condition funding to NMSS to support them in keeping their buildings safe and well maintained. Details of funding allocations are available at: <a href="https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1155676%2FSchool_capital_funding_allocations_for_2023_to_2024.xlsx&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK" target="_blank">https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1155676%2FSchool_capital_funding_allocations_for_2023_to_2024.xlsx&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK</a>. In the 2023/24 financial year, NMSS were allocated £3,000,000 in school condition allocations to invest in the condition of their buildings, and £410,000 in devolved formula capital for smaller capital projects.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 12/06/2023 16:56:40 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1624098

registered interest
date	26/04/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Department for Education: Water
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on achieving water neutrality in her Department's estate.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	182839
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/05/2023 answer text <p>The term water neutral is typically associated with planning requirements for new developments to minimise impact on local water demands. The Department’s estate will not be expanding to include newly built offices.</p><p>In line with the Greening Government Commitments, the Department has committed to reduce water consumption. Since 2017/18, the Department has decreased water use by 60% and is currently meeting the Greening Government Commitment to reduce water consumption by at least 8% from the 2017/18 baseline. Information for the 2021/22 financial year will be published in the Greening Government Commitments Annual Report for 2021/22, due later this year. The data for all previous financial years is available online in previously published annual reports.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 09/05/2023 15:28:40 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1606054

registered interest
date	21/03/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Foster Care: Barnet
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of foster care placements in the London Borough of Barnet.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	170580
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/03/2023 answer text <p>The department is taking action nationally to increase the number of foster care places available.</p><p>We are investing over £3 million to deliver an initial fostering recruitment and retention programme in the North East Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliance. This will introduce a regional support hub to support individuals interested in applying to foster, facilitate targeted communications, and improve retention with the evidence-based model Mockingbird. The department will then expand our recruitment and retention programme from 2023 by investing over £24 million, offering more areas of the country the opportunity to implement end-to-end improvements in fostering recruitment and retention.</p><p>The department also continues to fund Fosterline and Fosterline Plus, a free-to-access helpline and support service for current and prospective foster carers, to provide high quality, independent information and advice on a range of issues. ​</p><p>In recognition of the increasing costs of living, the department is also raising the National Minimum Allowance (NMA). Foster carers will benefit from a 12.43% increase to the NMA. In addition, changes to tax and benefit allowances announced in the 2023 Spring Budget represent an average tax cut of £450 per year for foster carers, as well as simplifying the process for self-assessment returns for most foster carers. This above inflation increase in allowance and changes to tax arrangement will help foster parents cover the increasing costs of caring for a child in their home and support prospective foster carers to feel confident taking a child into their home.​</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 30/03/2023 16:55:12 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1601984

registered interest
date	07/03/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education: Suicide
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of suicides committed by persons in full-time Higher Education in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	160248
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2023 answer text <p>Every suicide is a tragedy. The government is committed to doing all we can to prevent these devastating events which we know have a profound and lasting impact on family and friends.</p><p>The Office for National Statistics published a refreshed dataset on suicide in the higher education (HE) population on 31 May 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2017to2020" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2017to2020</a>. This dataset shows that the suicide rate for HE students in England and Wales for the academic year ending 2020 was lower than in the past four years. The HE student suicide rate is also lower when compared with the general population and with the same age group, however the numbers per year mean we have to be cautious in our interpretation of this data.</p><p>It is a high priority for the government that students get effective mental health and wellbeing support, and that action is taken to prevent future tragedies. The department expects all universities to take active steps to prevent suicides, to intervene and support students at risk, and to deal sensitively when a tragedy occurs. We continue to work closely with the Office for Students (OfS) and the HE sector to promote and fund effective practice which ensures that students are well supported.</p><p>We support the Suicide Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK and Papyrus. This helps university leaders prevent student suicides and better support students and families with bereavement. Its approach has been widely adopted and is a key component of the University Mental Health Charter led by Student Minds.</p><p>To ensure that all students have access to dedicated mental health support no matter where they study, the department asked the OfS to fund Student Space, a mental health and wellbeing online platform for students, with up to £3.6 million invested so far. It has been accessed by over 250,000 students since its launch in August 2020.</p><p>OfS has allocated an additional £15 million in the 2022/23 financial year help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university and to support better joined up working with NHS services. This funding targets those students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable groups and hard to reach students.</p><p>This government is also investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year to expand and transform mental health services by 2023/24 as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.</p><p>The department will continue to work closely with experts to ensure that we are taking all necessary steps to prevent suicides among university students.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon grouped question UIN 160249 question first answered 15/03/2023 17:53:58 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1601988

registered interest
date	07/03/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education: Suicide
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of suicides committed by persons in full-time Higher Education.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	160249
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2023 answer text <p>Every suicide is a tragedy. The government is committed to doing all we can to prevent these devastating events which we know have a profound and lasting impact on family and friends.</p><p>The Office for National Statistics published a refreshed dataset on suicide in the higher education (HE) population on 31 May 2022, available at: <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2017to2020" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2017to2020</a>. This dataset shows that the suicide rate for HE students in England and Wales for the academic year ending 2020 was lower than in the past four years. The HE student suicide rate is also lower when compared with the general population and with the same age group, however the numbers per year mean we have to be cautious in our interpretation of this data.</p><p>It is a high priority for the government that students get effective mental health and wellbeing support, and that action is taken to prevent future tragedies. The department expects all universities to take active steps to prevent suicides, to intervene and support students at risk, and to deal sensitively when a tragedy occurs. We continue to work closely with the Office for Students (OfS) and the HE sector to promote and fund effective practice which ensures that students are well supported.</p><p>We support the Suicide Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK and Papyrus. This helps university leaders prevent student suicides and better support students and families with bereavement. Its approach has been widely adopted and is a key component of the University Mental Health Charter led by Student Minds.</p><p>To ensure that all students have access to dedicated mental health support no matter where they study, the department asked the OfS to fund Student Space, a mental health and wellbeing online platform for students, with up to £3.6 million invested so far. It has been accessed by over 250,000 students since its launch in August 2020.</p><p>OfS has allocated an additional £15 million in the 2022/23 financial year help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university and to support better joined up working with NHS services. This funding targets those students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable groups and hard to reach students.</p><p>This government is also investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year to expand and transform mental health services by 2023/24 as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.</p><p>The department will continue to work closely with experts to ensure that we are taking all necessary steps to prevent suicides among university students.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon grouped question UIN 160248 question first answered 15/03/2023 17:53:58 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord