The parents of a student who took her own life have slammed a Government decision not to tighten up the law requiring universities to have a legal duty of care for their students. Natasha Abrahart's parents, who live in West Bridgford, said the Government was ‘ducking the issue’ in their response to the campaign.
The Abraharts are one of 25 bereaved families who helped launch a parliamentary petition last October, calling on ministers to pass legislation to better protect students and arguing that their mental health, safety and wellbeing should be a government priority. The petition followed a court ruling when the University of Bristol was ordered to pay £50,000 in compensation by the County Court for the way they treated the 20-year-old physics student.
But the Department for Education said higher education providers owe a 'duty of care to not cause harm to their students through the university's own actions'. The Abraharts have called for the government to establish a statutory duty of care.
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The Department for Education said: “Higher Education providers do have a general duty of care to deliver educational and pastoral services to the standard of an ordinarily competent institution and, in carrying out these services, they are expected to act reasonably to protect the health, safety and welfare of their students. This can be summed up as providers owing a duty of care to not cause harm to their students through the university’s own actions.”
Robert, 66, a retired university lecturer, said: “The Government’s response appears to be an attempt at ducking the issue, and it does nothing to inform the debate about how the universities should keep students safe." He added: "If the Government agrees with us that students deserve the protection of a legal duty of care then it should introduce a bill in Parliament rather than making bland statements. Such a duty should cover not only negligent acts by universities but also negligent failures to act, which the Government’s statement also ignores.”
Margaret, 61, a retired psychological wellbeing practitioner, said: “I fear this response was made in the hope that we would go away. We and the other members of The LEARN Network will not go away until we have improved the protections for vulnerable university students. We owe it to Natasha, and to all the others who have died far too young, to make sure their deaths were not in vain.”
Margaret and Robert Abrahart, and other parents of students who have taken their own lives at British universities, are now campaigning for 100,000 people to sign a petition in the next five weeks, to force MPs to debate the issue in Parliament. The campaign launched on February 6 is called ‘For the 100’, and references an estimation that around 100 university students take their own life every year in the UK.
A #ForThe100 statement said: "Making bland statements about unwritten law helps nobody. It only serves to perpetuate the myth. Student rights should be determined by Parliament, not left hanging on a ‘wing and a prayer’."
A spokesperson at the Department for Education said: "Natasha’s story is truly heart-breaking, and we offer our sincerest condolences to all of her loved ones. We have asked the Office for Students to allocate £15m on a range of mental health support, including Student Space, a free online service for students; better support for students' transitions to higher education; and improved partnership between HE Providers and the NHS so students don’t fall between services.
"On top of this Office for National Statistics have been asked to provide a more regular analysis of student suicide data. Understanding the numbers and risk factors is central to informing preventative action. Since we appointed Edward Peck as HE's first-ever Student Support Champion, he has been speaking directly to bereaved parents, to understand how practice in this area can be improved, we are also backing the University Mental Health Charter, led by Student Minds which supports universities to adopt a whole-university approach to mental health and wellbeing including leadership, early intervention and data collection."
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