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<p>The government is committed to doing all we can to prevent suicides. We continue
to work with experts and to review our plans to ensure they are fit for the future.
The mental health and wellbeing of students in schools and universities, including
suicide prevention, is a government priority. The department has been working closely
with higher education (HE) providers, schools and health colleagues to ensure students
are supported.</p><p>As part of a coordinated, whole school approach to mental health
and wellbeing, the department is committed to ensuring schools provide safe, calm,
and supportive environments, with access to early, targeted support. This is vital
in preventing the onset, progression, and escalation of ill mental health. We are
enabling schools to introduce effective, whole school approaches to mental health
and wellbeing by committing to offer all state schools and colleges a grant to train
a senior mental health lead by 2025. This is backed by £10 million in 2022/23. Over
8,000 schools and colleges, including half of state-funded secondary schools in England,
have signed up so far.</p><p>The department is also expanding access to early, targeted
mental health support by increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs)
in schools and colleges to 400 by 2023, covering around 35% of pupils in England,
with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.</p><p>Alongside these initiatives,
we are promoting good mental health amongst children and young people through the
school curriculum. Health education is compulsory in all schools and has a strong
focus on mental wellbeing. Pupils are taught where and how to seek support for themselves
as well as others. At secondary level, teachers may choose to discuss issues such
as self-harm, addiction, and suicide when teaching these topics.</p><p>In addition
to this, the department is funding a large-scale randomised control trial of approaches
to improve pupil mental health and wellbeing in schools. The ‘Aware’ arm of the trial
is testing approaches to mental health awareness teaching, including Youth Aware of
Mental Health, which has good international evidence of reducing suicidal ideation.
Moreover, colleges funded through the £5.4 million college collaboration fund have
developed new ways to support student and staff mental health and wellbeing, with
resources available to all further education providers online.</p><p>We also expect
all universities to engage actively with suicide prevention, intervene to support
students at risk, and act sensitively when a tragedy occurs.</p><p>The department
supports the Suicide-Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK (UUK) and
Papyrus. This framework supports university leaders to prevent student suicides, and
support students and families after the death of a student. Its approach has been
widely adopted and is a key component of the University Mental Health Charter, led
by Student Minds, which aims to raise standards in mental health provision across
the sector.</p>
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