4. What steps is the Minister taking to support the mental health of higher education students in Wales? OQ55617

I have remitted HEFCW to work with partners in the HE sector to address student mental health and well-being. To support this work, I allocated HEFCW £3.5 million last year to support well-being and health in higher education, including student mental health.

Thank you, Minister. I know that you are very well aware that I share the concerns raised by other Members about the mental health of higher education students at this very difficult time, and also that the committee has written to all vice-chancellors in Wales to seek assurances about support for students. But what I wanted to ask about today was specifically suicide prevention. I was very grateful to you for meeting with me and James Murray, whose son Ben tragically died by suicide at Bristol university two years ago. Can I ask, following that meeting, what update there is in terms of encouraging universities to embed Papyrus's excellent 'Suicide-safer Universities' guide in their work? Thank you.

Thank you for that question, Lynne, and also thank you for the opportunity to meet with yourself and Mr Murray, whose testimony was powerful indeed. He outlined, very clearly, the steps that all institutions can take to make them as safe as possible for young people. As you're aware, I gave a commitment, during that meeting, that we would be pursing the issue of Papyrus's advice, to see what steps universities were taking to implement that advice. I would like to reassure all Members that each university, prior to the start of the academic year, have been asked to prepare COVID plans, and one of the questions that we were asking in those plans is what steps they were going to take to support mental health at this time. So, whilst COVID brings new challenges, it is a particularly important aspect of universities' work at this time, recognising that people could feel additional vulnerabilities and additional isolation, worries and anxieties on top of what we would usually see at the start of the academic year. We will continue to monitor their progress via the funding council, and indeed with my regular meetings with NUS Wales.

Minister, in earlier questions you said that this has to be a UK-wide approach to get students home for Christmas, and I'd agree on that basis, given the cross-border flows that happen with students. The education Minister—the Secretary of State for Education I should say, sorry, in London, highlighted to the House of Commons yesterday that he could see that there'll be a formal suspension of face-to-face lecture time and tutorials, and everything would move online so that a two-week period of isolation could be undertaken by students before they left their universities to head home before Christmas. Is that a course of action you subscribe to?

Andrew, as you say, it's important that we have a UK approach, if at all possible; that is what has been recommended by SAGE. And, as you said, there are significant cross-border flows of students—Welsh students into England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and vice versa, and therefore a co-ordinated approach, I believe, is best. I will be discussing a range of options with Gavin Williamson when I meet him later this week.