Did you mean higher education duty of are?
Nicholas Fletcher: ...who have come to the debate, and I thank the Minister for his letter and his comments. I thank all the petitioners who have come to the debate. I know that they were hoping for the statutory duty to be put in place. That was never going to happen today—this is a Westminster Hall debate, and that does not happen here—but they have heard the Minister’s comments. He has written to all...
Flick Drummond: I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to place a duty on local authorities to maintain a register of children who are not in school; and for connected purposes. When schools in England reopened after successive lockdowns, the expectation was that every child would come back to school, excited to return to classroom learning and to be reunited with their friends. The reality...
Petitions Committee: A statutory duty of care for higher education students.
Maria Miller: ...debate. I warmly welcome the Bill, and in advance I thank the Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar), who I know, together with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, will engage thoroughly with all the issues raised. I thank the Justice Committee for an excellent piece of pre-legislative scrutiny; my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and...
Maria Miller: ...debate. I warmly welcome the Bill, and in advance I thank the Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar), who I know, together with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, will engage thoroughly with all the issues raised. I thank the Justice Committee for an excellent piece of pre-legislative scrutiny; my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and...
Matt Western: .... Indeed, it will complicate the process for all involved. The Minister will know that I was trying to reach her last week. I was keen to discuss this issue, because I wanted to seek some sort of understanding about what was going on, but for some reason we were not able to speak. I hope that we can do that in future, because I think that will circumvent problems. To be fair to the...
Thomas Tugendhat: Today I am pleased to announce the publication of the draft Terrorism (protection of premises) Bill, also known as Martyn’s Law, for pre-legislative scrutiny by the Home Affairs Select Committee. The draft Bill (CP 840) has been laid before the House and is also available on GOV.UK. The Government confirmed its intention to bring forward Martyn’s Law in December 2022. Since this...
Robert Halfon: That is an important question, and the hon. Gentleman is one of the key higher education spokesmen in the House of Commons. I am absolutely supportive of student representation. The student panel is incredibly important. I made a decision as a Minister to interview one of the members of the student panel. I did not have to do that—I could have just ticked the submission and said that Mr X...
Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty of care for higher education institutions on student (a) mental health, (b) safety and (c) well-being.
Baroness Fox of Buckley: My Lords, I welcome this opportunity to clarify the purposes of the Bill, but I am not sure that the amendment helps as my North Star. Like the Bill, it throws up as many questions as answers, and I found myself reading it and thinking “What does that word mean?”, so I am not sure that clarity was where I ended up. It is not a matter of semantics, but in some ways you could say—and...
Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a statutory duty of care on higher education providers.
Baroness Barran: My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Knight, for bringing to your Lordships’ attention the important matter of financial sustainability in the higher education sector, and for securing this important debate. As we have heard this afternoon, higher education is of vital importance to this country’s prosperity. Many of our institutions are world leading and provide a...
James Davies: My hon. Friend makes a strong argument. In fact, he will be aware that one of the Labour Members in the Senedd called for greater powers and autonomy for north Wales in response to the recent roads review, and today a representative of the business community in north Wales has called for a directly elected mayor for north Wales. It comes back to my point that devolution should be true in...
Baroness Katy Clark: We know that 128,000 people have signed a petition to the United Kingdom Government calling for the creation of a statutory legal duty of care for students in higher education. A duty of care already exists for staff and for students who are under 18. Would the minister explore the idea of introducing a statutory legal duty of care for students in colleges and universities?
Andrew Selous: I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend, who raises a very important point. I have seen exactly that in my constituency: school-age children in and out of shops in the middle of the day. My area is also subject to the terrible scourge of county lines. There are huge safeguarding and criminal concerns about what is happening to some of these children, and we need to take them seriously. My...
Mike Freer: Every student death is a tragedy. Where a student’s death is investigated by the coroner, it may be appropriate for the higher education provider to have “interested person” status in the investigation and, where this is the case, would be provided with the Record of Inquest which includes the cause of death. Inquest hearings are public and open for anyone to attend. In addition,...
Mike Freer: Every student death is a tragedy. Where a student’s death is investigated by the coroner, it may be appropriate for the higher education provider to have “interested person” status in the investigation and, where this is the case, would be provided with the Record of Inquest which includes the cause of death. Inquest hearings are public and open for anyone to attend. In addition,...
Mark Spencer: ...health and wellbeing benefits that access to the countryside can bring, including improving physical and mental health and supporting local communities and economies. Landowners have a statutory duty to keep public rights of way in good working order and therefore this is not covered by Environmental Land Management Schemes, unless they choose to upgrade to provide additional access,...
Earl Howe: My Lords, I am pleased to be back again to debate the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. I must express my thanks once again for the time and thought your Lordships have given to this legislation. Members of the other place were particularly happy to see the amendment banning the misuse of non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual abuse, harassment or misconduct, or other bullying...
