Category: Education

The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Education Minister, in Birmingham on 27 February 2024.

Hello – I’m sorry I can’t be with you today as planned.

I hope you’ve had a brilliant couple of days discussing every aspect of apprenticeships delivery.

I want to say thank you to Shane [Mann] and FE Week for organising this conference.

I always say that FE Week makes the life of a Skills Minister difficult – but it makes complacency impossible!

Whenever I want to find out what’s going on in the DfE, I read FE Week.

My whole political life has been about championing apprenticeships and skills.

I’ve done this because I’ve seen the good they can do in my own constituency.

They are the greatest tool we have for advancing social justice.

A range of complementary training options, from Level 2 to degree level, will allow people of all backgrounds to climb the Ladder of Opportunity – gaining the skills they need to improve their income and their future.

Recently I took a journey from West to East, from St Austell to Ipswich.

The Proclaimers may have walked 500 miles, but I covered 843 over the course of National Apprenticeship Week.

I met apprentices, employers and training providers who were full of enthusiasm for the programme, keen to demonstrate their skills and teaching.

They really want skills education and industry to succeed in this country.

More importantly, they are putting in the hard yards to make it happen.

My 3 Goals for Apprenticeships

The government’s reforms and investment have seen a transformation of the skills landscape.

This has already brought about incredible dividends.

There are now nearly 690 apprenticeship standards – each one designed by employers with IfATE to teach the skills that employees really need.

While a lot has been achieved – with the help of many here today – there is still much to do.

My 3 goals I’d like to discuss today are:

• Building an Apprenticeships Nation
• Prioritising quality over quantity, and
• Making sure apprenticeships serve social justice, by bringing opportunities to those who need them most.

Building an Apprenticeships Nation

Building an Apprenticeships Nation means integrating apprenticeships into the way that everyone sees work, study and recruitment. They are not a minority pursuit for people who didn’t choose university, or just a pathway dedicated to ancient, guilded trades (though they’re great for those too!) They are about spreading opportunities to enter every trade possible, in away that allows the employer to specify your training. Currently nearly 70% of occupations can now be entered via an apprenticeship – and we intend to build on this! Apprenticeships should be part of the conversation at every Sixth Form careers fair, and whenever businesses seek to hire specific skills.

The Levy

To build an Apprenticeships Nation, these qualifications needed to be fully and intelligently financed. We met this challenge by asking the employers with the deepest pockets to contribute to high quality training. The Apprenticeship Levy came into effect in 2017; it has allowed us to double apprenticeships spending in cash terms, from £1.2 billion in 2010-11 to £2.5 billion in 2022-23. To keep pace with the cost of living last year, IfATE awarded funding uplifts to almost 80 apprenticeship standards, by an average of 35%. And to ensure apprentices gain vital skills, we recently increased the apprenticeship funding rate for English and maths tuition by 54%.

In 2024-25, we will spend £2.7 billion on high-quality apprenticeships.

I’m passionate about the Apprenticeship Levy, and not just because of the money it brings in!

Putting a statutory obligation on big companies to contribute to the programme has really helped shift the culture in how apprenticeships are perceived and who offers them. It’s why I don’t agree with calls to spend the Levy on other skills training. Fewer apprentices would be employed, with more people doing shorter qualifications of varying quality. Using half of Levy funds in this way could have resulted in around 60% fewer apprentice starts last academic year.

I’m determined that it will remain the Ronseal Levy that does what it says on the tin: supports employers to take-on more apprentices and invest in the high quality training needed for a skilled workforce.

Degree Apprenticeships

An Apprenticeships Nation means extending this training up to degree level, at the best universities. Degree apprenticeships are so important because of their unique offer. Students benefit from brilliant collaborations between top businesses and world-class universities which fit them for a great career, pay them a wage, and don’t charge tuition fees. This is particularly valuable to people from disadvantaged backgrounds. A degree apprenticeship can act as a launchpad to a highly-paid job for someone without any background in that industry. Level 6 apprentices have median earnings of over £34,500 once they complete – demonstrating just how valuable these workers are to employers.

Over 222,000 people have started on these prestigious training pathways since 2015. That’s remarkable – but I’m determined that these opportunities reach many, many more people. It’s why we’ve made up to £40 million available for universities to expand degree-level apprenticeships.

Careers Education

But to really build an Apprenticeships Nation, we must continue our revolution in careers provision.

School pupils should have awareness of apprenticeships, and where they can take you, well before their tertiary choices at 16. That is why we strengthened the provider access legislation, known as the Baker Clause, via the Skills and Post-16 Education Act in 2022. We now stipulate that every school must provide pupils with a minimum of six education and training provider encounters, to build their understanding of what technical routes can offer.

I am determined that students have more opportunities to see industries and occupations up close, and to learn about the benefits of technical routes and skills education. Over 95% of schools and colleges are now part of The Careers & Enterprise Company’s network of Careers Hubs, working with almost 400 major employers.  Our ASK programme is raising older pupils’ awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships and T Levels. It had 625,000 interactions with young people in over 2,400 schools in 2022/23.

I’ve met with Sir Martyn Oliver since his appointment as the Chief Inspector of Ofsted, and he is fully onboard with this vital aspect of skills reform – that careers education fully educate pupils on all their options.

Quality over Quantity ..but we still want more!

My next goal for apprenticeships is quality over quantity. There is no point wracking-up huge numbers of participants if the training people receive is not second to none.

To raise the prestige of vocational, technical education, we must ensure that these employer-led qualifications are to the highest standard.

If you compare pre-2010 apprenticeships with 2024 apprenticeships, you’re not comparing apples and pears. You’re comparing apples with tortoises.

There were fewer than half a million people participating in apprenticeships in 2009/10.

Those training programmes had no requirement to last at least a year, and no minimum guided learning hours.

Last year over 750,000 were participating – and training to the more rigorous, industry-designed standards we introduced from 2014.

I know participation has fluctuated over the last decade, as high quality standards and the Levy were introduced.

But quality matters more than quantity because it serves everyone in the long term – businesses, the economy and learners’ outcomes. Quality will help us to achieve our ambition of reaching a 67% achievement rate for apprenticeship by 2025.

Government is sometimes accused of not thinking about the long term.

I’m glad we did 10 years ago, at about the same time as the first Annual Apprenticeship Conference was being organised.

Now, although I prioritise quality over quantity, quantity comes a close second.

This academic year we’ve already seen over 160,000 apprenticeship starts, up 3% on the same period the previous year. Among those, the number of young people under 19 starting an apprenticeship is up by 6%, to over 50,000 starts. Overall, 65% of these starts are at Levels 2 & 3 – the crucial point at which young people may finish their education. An apprenticeship allows them to build to higher levels later if they chose.

There have been nearly 27,000 apprenticeship starts at degree level in the first quarter, up 4% on same period last year. And the number of achievements is up 22% so far this academic year, with 37,400 people passing their apprenticeship.

But that’s not enough!

It won’t surprise you to hear I want as many people as possible to do apprenticeships.

Social justice

My final goal for apprenticeships is that they serve social justice.

This is a core part of my personal mission in politics, and why I have such enthusiasm for this training.

It is not fair that opportunities to enter good work, with progression and a rising pay scale are often not given to those who need them most.

Apprenticeships provide a Ladder of Opportunity for people to climb to a better life – that’s why I champion them.

I’m keen that we present apprenticeships to all kinds of candidates as an attractive, supported option. This includes young people who’ve spent time in care, and haven’t enjoyed a stable family life to guide decisions about their future. In August we raised the bursary for care-experienced apprentices to £3,000. These young people can now begin their training confident they can cover the living costs usually met by family. This is on top of the £1,000 available to both the employer and training provider who take on a care-experienced apprentice. It’s total of £5,000 additional funding for each young person who’s spent time in care, which will boost these apprentices’ outcomes.

We know there are specific challenges to hiring younger apprentices, and those with health and learning conditions. That’s why we also provide an additional £1,000 of funding to employers and training providers who hire apprentices aged 19-24 with an Education, Health and Care Plan.

The same subsidy is also available for hiring younger apprentices aged 16 to 18.

And to further assist hiring candidates with an EHC plan, we have recently lowered the English and Maths requirements to ‘entry level 3’ for these apprentices.

I also want to explore how we can help more disabled people to progress and complete their apprenticeship. That’s why we’ve begun a pilot scheme to help training providers offer quality mentoring to these individuals. It will give participants tailored support from someone who understands the apprenticeship programme, as well as their individual needs and circumstances.

Social justice means making sure apprenticeships are offered as a choice to everyone who could benefit from them – particularly those unlikely to apply unless encouraged by their school or college.

Conclusion

We set lofty goals when we began reforming the apprenticeships programme 10 years ago.

I’m determined that we continue to set our sights high, to make apprenticeships better and better throughout the 2020s and 2030s.

I have a picture in my office of John F Kennedy – the 35th President of the United States.

Back in the 1960s, he also had high ambitions.

He said: “We choose to go to the Moon … and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

His point was – that’s what makes it worthwhile! We could spend less money and time and effort, but we wouldn’t have a space programme – or an apprenticeships programme – to be proud of.

I know this because I’ve been campaigning for these reforms for a long time.

We’re doing it not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.

We know that every apprenticeship undertaken, and every apprenticeship taken-on, means better prospects and security for the apprentice, and better business outcomes for the employer.

Let me leave you with that high-flying thought.

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy today’s conference.

The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, in Liverpool on 7 December 2023.

Times Higher Education is such an important voice for the sector, and I’m delighted to be speaking to you again.

I want to start with a personal story about my relationship with higher education.

I was born with a form of cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia. The doctors told my father I’d never be able do anything – to walk, live independently or, for example, go to university.

Thanks to a Great Ormond Street doctor, I did learn to walk and went on to do things no one would have predicted – included going to university. I never imagined I’d be able to walk or cycle up the steep hills of Exeter, but I did. Going to university was the greatest time of my life. I greatly enjoyed getting my degree, and then staying on to do a masters.

My experience taught me not just to highly value higher education – but to cherish it.

A sector to be proud of

I’m proud that Britain has some of the best universities in the world.

4 in the top 10, and 17 in the top 100. Students travel from over 200 nations to study here. And our universities lead the world in producing valuable research:

We rank 1st in the G7 for publications’ impact.

We also have excellent technical and vocational universities, which are expanding the concept of degree education. They are equipping students with premium skills for high-powered jobs, and collaborating with further education to deliver sought-after degree apprenticeships.

And data released todRobetay shows that we’re flinging wide the doors to university like never before. Thanks to the commitment you’ve shown to access and participation, disadvantaged English 18-year-olds are now 74% more likely to enter higher education than they were in 2010.

I want to congratulate everyone in this room for their contribution to the picture I’ve described: the deans, lecturers, admissions tutors – all the academic teaching and research staff. And I also want to thank all those who aren’t in the room, but are just as important to making a university successful: the support staff, administrators, student counsellors and caterers. Everything that all of you do has made this sector what it is today.

I recognise the financial pressures universities are under – and appreciate the work you are doing to manage these and deliver outstanding outcomes for young people.

We’re working in a very challenging financial context across government. This means we must continue to make tough decisions to control public spending – but also try to help students with the cost-of-living, and ensure they receive value-for-money.

Beveridge’s 5 Giants

Last year I laid out my 3 aims for higher education: jobs, skills and social justice.

This year, to look to the future, I want to first look back to December 1942.

Twentieth Century historians among you will recognise the year that Sir William Beveridge published his report on Britain’s social ills. As you will know, the Beveridge report went on to become the founding document for the welfare state.

Beveridge described 5 giants that were standing in the way of the nation’s progress.

They were idleness, ignorance, disease, squalor and want.

Although the report was a blueprint for social security, Beveridge also acknowledges the evils he considered just as bad as income, housing or healthcare deficits.

Namely, lack of education and employment.

Beveridge described ignorance as something “no democracy can afford among its citizens”, and idleness as a force that ‘destroys wealth and corrupts men, whether they are well fed or not’.

My 5 Giants

So taking my cue from Beveridge, I want to talk about my 5 giants – the 5 challenges I believe higher education faces in this decade and beyond.

They are higher education reforms, HE disruptors, degree apprenticeships, the lifelong learning entitlement and artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution.

I will end by talking about an unwelcome shift in culture on campus this autumn, and what we must do about it.

HE reform

I want to start with our ongoing higher education reforms, and the challenge they present to universities.

The sector has evolved in the last 25 years to a widely-accessed, fee-paying model. Data from the Office for Students shows that students overwhelmingly progress to good employment, further study or other positive outcomes. However, government has a duty to monitor provision funded by tuition fees, to ensure that students receive value-for-money from the finance it provides – and which they must eventually pay back.

Jobs, skills and social justice are what drives our higher education reforms. By legislating on what courses should cost and the outcomes students should expect, we are ensuring the sustainability and efficacy of the market. The challenge is for institutions to anticipate student needs and outcomes, and adapt their courses accordingly.

One example is checking the rapid rise in foundation years in classroom-based subjects, such as business and management. We were concerned that lower delivery cost, rather than student need, was driving this growth. That’s why we’ve announced that from next year, we will reduce the maximum tuition fees and loans for foundation years in classroom-based subjects to £5,760.

This lower fee limit represents a fairer deal for students.

I believe this comes back to social justice.

I’m glad to say that we have the highest completion rate in the OECD.

But all courses that cost this much should have good continuation, completion and progression.

Why should only those in-the-know, who apply for the right courses, go on to reap the greatest rewards from their HE investment? While others paying the same money receive poorer teaching with poorer outcomes. Everyone should be able to approach this market clear-eyed about what they can expect for their time and money.

Disruptors of HE and tertiary education – Institutes of Technology and the Dyson Institute

The second challenge is that presented by the new disruptors to higher education.

Institutions that ensuring that students’ studies at university boost to their professional lives afterwards.

The movement to link degrees with graduate jobs is exemplified by the Dyson institute of engineering and technology. As the first private employer in the country to be granted its own degree-awarding powers, the institute has streamlined students’ route to their graduate roles. They believe it’s worth teaching and awarding their own degrees, because it’s clearly the best way to get the candidates they need. And they’re not short of applicants vying for places! I commend Dyson’s extraordinary investment in their campus, where students are reaping the rewards of their work-focussed programmes. Everyone involved knows it’s worth their while.

On a regional level, our government-backed Institutes of Technology (IoTs) are also challenging the status quo. As collaborations between business, HE and FE, they are a fast-track to good jobs.  They provide higher technical training in STEM specialisms, using the industry-standard equipment that colleges and training providers find prohibitively expensive. IoTs are employer-led, offering specialised courses tailored to local business needs, for local students. These multi-way relationships benefit all concerned, including the universities. Undergraduates who’ve experienced IoTs’ unique employer relationships arrive in their first job with higher occupational competency than traditional degree students.

Degree Apprenticeships

The third challenge for HE is degree apprenticeships.

They epitomise jobs, skills and social justice by eroding the false divide between further and higher education. Maintaining partition does nothing for either sector – particularly when there is so much to be gained from collaborating.

Degree apprenticeships allow universities to reach students who could not otherwise afford undergraduate study. They offer a unique package of earning while learning at world-leading universities, and working for some of Britain’s top employers. 94% of Level 6 degree-apprentices go onto work or further training upon completion, with 93% in sustained employment. And all with no student finance to repay. With 170 to choose from, degree apprenticeships are opening-up professions previously closed to those not studying a traditional degree – a brilliant outcome which speaks for itself.

What do degree apprenticeships have in common with the previous challenge – the disruptor institutes? They’re about preparing students for the world of work, so they’re ready to grab it with both hands.

Many of you agree with me on how important this is. The University of East London encourages every student to do a work placement, no matter what they’re studying. Teesside University had over 2,000 degree-level apprentices on roll last year. And Warwick University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Stuart Croft, has said he’d like 10% of his student body to be degree apprentices within the next decade. I applaud this, and encourage others to follow his lead. But I want a time to come when degree apprentices match the number of academic students on campus.

I don’t see why we can’t get there. Degree-level apprenticeships have enjoyed year-on-year growth since their introduction, and now made-up 14% of all apprenticeships. But we need to diversify beyond the programmes that have fuelled expansion. That’s why I’ve made £40 million available for degree apprenticeship growth in the next two years – to get new courses off the ground, and engage with new candidates and businesses.

It will take time, but the demand is already there! UCAS reports huge interest in these courses.

The lifelong learning entitlement, and what it means for HE

The fourth challenge is the lifelong learning entitlement.

William Beveridge said of adult education:

The door of learning should not shut for anyone at 18, or at any time.

Ignorance to its present extent is not only unnecessary, but dangerous.

To open wide the door of learning we will expand student finance in 2025, creating parity between higher and technical education. The loan entitlement will be equivalent to four years of higher education funding (£37,000 in today’s fees) to use throughout a person’s working life.

As well as conventional higher technical or degree level studies, it will be redeemable against high-value modular courses such as higher technical qualifications. HTQs are designed in collaboration with employers, giving students confidence that they provide the required skills for associated careers.

This will galvanise people to train, retrain, and upskill across their careers, fitting shorter courses around their personal commitments. Like getting on and off a train, learners will be able to alight and board their post-school education when it suits them, rather than being confined to a single ticket. These are the students of the future, a new market seeking high quality tuition that universities are well-placed to provide.

AI and the fourth industrial revolution

The fifth and final challenge is Artificial Intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution.

It is difficult to comprehend how much the world will change in the working lives of today’s undergraduates – much as it would have been difficult to explain the internet to our younger selves. Eventually, almost every daily transaction and interaction will have a digital archetype.

The government is taking a proactive approach to AI research, with HE playing a pivotal role. The department for science, innovation and technology has funded over 2,600 postgraduate scholarships for underrepresented students to study AI and data science. Since 2018, UK Research and Innovation has invested £217 million in 24 Centres for doctoral training across the country, supporting over 1,500 PhDs. This investment is creating a new generation of researchers, developing AI usage for areas like healthcare and climate change.

The fourth industrial revolution is already underway, creating new jobs and extinguishing others. Universities UK estimates that we’ll need 11 million extra graduates by 2023 to fill newly-created roles. Unit for Future Skills’ research shows that professional occupations are more exposed to AI, particularly clerical work in law, finance and business management.

To build a workforce for this revolution, we need to expose undergraduates to real-world work whilst building a culture of lifelong learning and re-training.

Sophie Scholl and antisemitism

I want to turn now to someone else who, like William Beveridge, was trying to make the world a better place in 1942. Someone who ultimately paid for it with her life.

My political hero is a young woman called Sophie Scholl. Again, I expect 20th Century historians will recognise the name. She was a member of the White Rose resistance group who distributed anti-Nazi leaflets in Germany. She was a university student in Munich, where her final act of defiance led to her arrest and execution.

The White Rose called on citizens to resist the Nazis and denounced the murder of Jewish people. But Sophie wasn’t Jewish – one of the reasons I admire her so much. She didn’t lose her life through any self-interest. She and her comrades knew what was happening was wrong, and did something about it.

So why mention Sophie today? Because the antisemitism in our universities this autumn has been horrific. Since the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, the University Jewish Chaplaincy has documented threatening door-knocking – “we know where you live” – verbal and physical abuse, graffiti, Palestinian flags draped over Jewish students’ cars..

I have welcomed statements condemning antisemitism from vice chancellors across the country. But we need to be proactive, not just reactive. That’s why the secretary of state and I have written twice to universities on this. And why we’re looking introduce an antisemitism charter to give teeth to the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.

Sophie Scholl once said that the real damage is done by “those with no sides and no causes… Those who don’t like to make waves – or enemies.”

I want Sophie Scholls to exist in every university. Non-Jews prepared to stand-up for their Jewish friends, who’s done nothing to deserve the stigma and hatred they’ve endured.

Government can only do so much. Action against antisemitism needs to come from within.

I‘ve laid-out 5 – or rather 6 – challenges to you today.

They are substantial, but I have full faith in your ability to meet them.

While it’s right that the government holds the sector to account, your universities are an enormous source of national pride. You contribute £130 billion a year to the economy, supporting three quarters of a million jobs. The Liverpool universities here alone contribute £2.7 billion, and support nearly 19,000 jobs.

I want to thank you again – all of you – for making our system the envy of the world.

The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Higher Education Minister, in London on 21 November 2023.

Thank you, Edward (Peck), and to Universities UK for the opportunity to speak at this important conference.

The World Health Organisation defines good mental health as:

‘a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community’

Every single part of that definition has relevance to students’ time at university. But particularly having sufficient mental wellbeing to realise their abilities and learn well.

Students cannot fulfil their potential, and study for a degree on which to build future success, if their wellbeing is unsupported. Mental ill health is not something students should be expected to push through or attempt to ignore – because we all know that can lead to tragic consequences. Today is about confronting this – and examining what more can be done to help students thrive.

I’d like to begin by paying tribute to all the student services staff who work on the frontline, day in, day out, to support students. You are there for them on their hardest days at university. You strive to help them find a way through. You do it because you care – because you want the best for your students.

You, more than anyone, will be aware that increasing numbers of students are needing support.

In 2022, 23% more students declared mental health conditions when they applied through UCAS. It takes bravery to ‘own up’ to an ongoing mental health issue when you’re about to embark on a new stage of your life, hoping to make new friends, and perhaps even present a new version of yourself. We need to reward this bravery by ensuring the support is there when they arrive at university.

So on an individual level, mental health support for students is important for their personal academic success.

But I think it’s important on a societal level too. I see mental health not just as a personal issue, but a matter of social justice. It’s about making sure the opportunity to enter, thrive and graduate from university is open to everyone with the ability to do so.

We know that today poor mental health reduces the chance of progressing to a graduate job or further study. This shouldn’t be the case. No one should be held back from achieving in higher education because of their background or personal challenges. When we create the right conditions for good mental health, we are in turn allowing students to climb the Ladder of Opportunity to sustainable employment and prosperity.

This is clear progress. But I know you don’t want to sit back and rest on your laurels, and that is why you are here today.

Because we have all been deeply affected by the loss of bright, capable and loved young people to suicide at university.

And we owe it to the memories of those we have lost to take strong and effective action to prevent further tragedies.

In my year as Minister for Higher Education I have made this an absolute priority. There are 3 pillars to our approach:

Funding vital services and projects; spreading and implementing best practice; and clear responsibilities for providers and protection for students.

The first pillar is about investing in the wellbeing of students.

To provide nationwide access to free mental health resources and confidential support, we provided Student Minds with £3.6 million to set up Student Space. Over 450,000 students have now benefitted from this service, including those who recently braved the “freshers” experience.

Those early stages of university life bring new opportunities, but also new responsibilities, and the transition isn’t always easy. We are backing university wellbeing services to support these students as part of this year’s £15 million investment in mental health by the Office for Students (OfS).

Of course it’s not just about the level of investment, but about being clear-headed on which interventions will genuinely transform students’ lives. And that’s why the launch of TASO’s (Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education) Student Mental Health Evidence Hub last month couldn’t have been more timely. As part of our grant to the OfS, it’s the first step towards understanding ‘what really works’ in higher education settings so we can make timely and effective interventions to help students, rather than let problems escalate. You will hear more about this in the afternoon.

One thing you have told us needs to work better is the join-up between university services and the NHS. I want us to be in a position where a student comes into hospital, and the doctor already knows if that student has seen a university wellbeing officer.

That’s why the OfS has brought together higher education (HE) providers and NHS trusts across each region in England to address the challenges of joined-up working. It’s about having a single clear view of a student across universities and the NHS so they have a smooth experience of transitioning between services. The outputs of this work are due to be shared by the OfS in the coming weeks.

The NHS mental health care services that many students rely on are already benefitting from an additional £2.3 billion a year, through the NHS Long Term Plan.

And the government has gone further, with guaranteed increases through the Mental Health Investment Standard that have brought our total investment to nearly £16 billion in 2022/2023.

Our second pillar is about best practice.

We need to create the right conditions on campus for students to thrive through a whole-university approach to mental health. This means not just relying on student wellbeing services. It means everyone, from the Vice Chancellor down to the librarian takes responsibility for creating an environment and culture that supports positive mental health and wellbeing.

The principles for achieving this are laid out in the University Mental Health Charter. This importantly includes the principle that good staff wellbeing should be supported, recognising the challenges those in the room face on a day-to-day basis.

The associated Charter Programme supports providers to embed these important principles and follow a process of continuous improvement as they work towards the Charter Award. It is already raising standards within the sector.

Thanks to the hard work of university staff, and the backing of your leaders, you have delivered an incredible 50% increase in University Mental Health Charter Programme membership over the summer. We’re now at 96 universities, which is a big step – perhaps even a giant leap – closer to our target of all universities joining by September 2024.

This is the cornerstone of our plan to improve student mental health. I am fully committed to reaching the full target and providing support for the fantastic Student Minds to see it through.

We also owe a lot to Universities UK. By working closely with charities and experts, it has made great strides in recent years in developing clear mental health support frameworks. And I would like to pay tribute to John de Pury who has led the charge on mental health for UUK so valiantly and who I know is coming to the end of his time in post this week.

To capitalise on this progress, I wrote to university leaders in June to ask them to take ownership of mental health at an executive level. The sector needs to come together to finish the job of embedding the guidance that has been set out.

Just a reminder about why we need to do this – why it’s so important:

Callum Dineen wrote to me last month about the tragic case of his friend, Theo Brennan-Hulme, who took his life at the University of  East Anglia.

Callum had a simple ask:

That universities have clear information-sharing policies to protect students and prevent further tragedies, following the UUK Trusted Contacts guidance. That families are given the chance to step in and provide much needed help to their loved ones.

This was a powerful campaign, with strong support from cross-party MPs – which I wholeheartedly supported.

I now want to turn to the work of Professor Edward Peck, and take this opportunity to thank him for all the progress he has made since his appointment as HE Student Support Champion. This summer I asked Edward to build on that work and chair the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce – a vehicle for delivering real change.

Firstly, the taskforce is developing a plan for effectively identifying students who need university wellbeing support, so no one falls through the cracks. This needs to include greater data sharing as students make the transition from schools or college to university. There is the opportunity here for exploring whether UCAS could widen the breadth and depth of information collected on mental health.

Secondly, the taskforce will ensure there is accountability and transparency around the adoption of best practice.

Thirdly, it will develop a ‘student commitment’, so that students are dealt with sensitively when they face course dismissal or receive difficult assignment results.

I was delighted to open the inaugural taskforce meeting in July. I saw common cause across a group bringing together different parts of the higher education sector, with Professor Steve West representing UUK, as well as health services, the charity sector, and – crucially – students and parents.

The recently appointed FE Support Champion, Polly Harrow, will shortly be invited to join the taskforce to ensure we are joining-up our approach across colleges and universities.

The taskforce will conclude its work in May next year, providing an interim update in early 2024.

In recent months I have had the privilege to speak directly to families who have lost loved ones to suicide. I have been humbled by their strength and determination to prevent further tragedies, whilst facing the most unimaginable pain and loss. We stand with these families.

This Government has pledged to reduce suicide rates within five years – with young people, including students, a priority group. We have set out over 100 actions to meet this pledge as part of our comprehensive Suicide Prevention Strategy.

This includes learning lessons from suicides that have occurred in universities. We will do this through a National Review of Higher Education Student Suicides.

We are looking to appoint an organisation with the expertise and track record to deliver this important review and we hope to announce further details very shortly.

I’m sure the sector will embrace this review as a positive endeavour to do better by students. Serious incident reviews will be submitted on an anonymised basis, using UUK’s postvention guidance template.

We have heard the heartfelt stories from families and friends who have lost loved ones. All eyes are now on those who have the power to make a real difference to students’ wellbeing.

I will be hosting a roundtable with HE leaders at Leeds Trinity University later this week to discuss how we can answer this call to action.

As I’ve said before, I am confident we have a strong plan in place, but I don’t rule out going further if needs be. If we do not see the improvements we need, I will not hesitate to ask the Office for Students to look at introducing a new registration condition on mental health.

Ultimately, we must do what it takes to provide the safety net that students and their loved ones expect and deserve as they embark on the amazing privilege of university life.

The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, in London on 15 November 2023.

The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, in Birmingham on 14 November 2023.