Statistics of number of parents / nominated persons contacted by university regarding student mental wellbeing.

The request was successful.

Dear University of Exeter,
Following a spate of sudden student deaths in 2018, an ‘opt-in scheme’ was pioneered by the University of Bristol as part of a set of measures aimed at preventing suicide. In 2019, a coroner wrote to the Department for Education and Minister for Suicide Prevention suggesting that these measures might be shared throughout the sector. I am now seeking to establish the extent to which ‘opt-in’ has been subsequently adopted and/or utilised.

In reply to a previous FOI request you answered “yes” to the following question: “Do you have an opt-in scheme to gain consent at registration from new or returning students in the event of the University having serious concerns about that student’s health, physical or mental?” This is a follow-up request.

There is a lot of confusion in the sector, about what is meant by ‘opt-in’ and/or ‘gaining consent at registration’, and what does or does not qualify. The ‘opt-in’ or ‘consent at registration’ scheme implemented by Bristol University comprises an additional personal information sharing agreement that supplements when information might be shared. It gains consent at annual registration for the university to contact a ’safe and nominated’ parent, guardian or friend in situations that are not emergencies, but where staff have serious concerns that something bad might happen to an enrolled student, and/or where their health, wellbeing or welfare could be affected. Essentially it involves lowering the bar at which parents or nominated others could be contacted by a designated professional at the university, from ‘vital interests’ to ‘serious or significant concerns’. It could for example apply in cases of trauma or distress associated with suspension / expulsion / non-attendance / mental health issues etc.

To qualify as ‘opt-in’ a scheme must be optional and additional to the regular emergency contact protocol. The latter is compulsory and typically restricted to serious incidents and/or emergency situations, that may present an imminent threat to a student’s vital interests. Further particulars can be found at:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/contacting-peop...
https://thetab.com/uk/2018/09/20/these-a...
https://thetab.com/uk/bristol/2019/10/31...

Is your acknowledged scheme consistent with the above description? If so, please provide me with the following information as absolute numbers and percentages.
For each academic period (2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21) and year-of-study (e.g. 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year) sub-division:
How many students opted-in at registration?
How many students subsequently rescinded their consent?
How many times was the opt-in consent used to contact somebody?
How many times was use of the opt-in consent considered, but with you deliberately choosing not to contact a parent or nominated individual?

Yours faithfully,

Gillian Green

InformationGovernance mailbox, University of Exeter

Hello Gillian,

The previous request the University of Exeter sent FOI20-012 was not made clear, the University does not have an opt in process. The University uses this data for legitimate circumstances when it is judged necessary on a case by case process and used as legitimate interest of the individual.

At annual registration students are asked to give/update details on 'emergency contact'. When students give this information they are told that we may contact parents if we have concerns for their wellbeing, usually with their involvement but not necessarily so.

Within Wellbeing Services we have adopted new procedures.....when assessing/dealing with students about whom we have significant risk concerns, we now as a matter of course discuss with students their relationship with their family and whether they are generally felt to be supportive or indeed the opposite of this......we encourage students to consider whether their family can be helpful to them at a time of crisis.

Our policy makes clear we may contact the emergency contact if we have serious concerns for their safety and we know from our interactions with them that their family are generally supportive.

For FOI21-085

The University of Exeter response below as we do not have an opt in system.

The University does not hold data on the presenting issues of students accessing Wellbeing Services in a way which could be reported. Such data may be available within the case notes of each individual, it would take the University longer than the 18 hours set out in Section 12 of the Freedom of Information act to determine if the data is held.

Please see below a link for wellbeing for further information which will be useful.

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/wellbeing/

Kind regards

Information Governance Officer

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