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

The request was successful.

Dear City University London,
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.
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...

This important scheme has been implemented at a number of universities, and perhaps at your institution as well. 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• How many students subsequently rescinded their consent?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

FOI, City, University of London

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FOI, City, University of London

1 Attachment

Dear Gillian Green,

 

Thank you for your request for information (see below), which was
received on 9^th March 2021, and has been logged under ref FOI IRR0001257.
Please quote this reference in any future correspondence. 

 

Your request will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, and as per the terms of the Act, we expect to have
responded to you no later than 20 working days after the date your request
was received or, where applicable, further clarification is provided. 

 

Kind regards, 

 

 

Information Assurance Team

Information Technology

City, University of London

Northampton Square

London EC1V 0HB

[1]www.city.ac.uk

 

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FOI, City, University of London

2 Attachments

Dear Gillian Green,

 

Please find attached our response to your information request FOI
IRR0001257.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Information Assurance Team

Information Technology

City, University of London

Northampton Square

London EC1V 0HB

[1]www.city.ac.uk

 

This email and its contents are the property of City, University of
London. If you are not the intended recipient of this message and any
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