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Students: Mental Health Services

Asked by Pippa HeylingsLiberal DemocratDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 13 February 2026UIN 110514

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ask the Office for Students to introduce a regulatory condition on student mental health and wellbeing.

Answered by Josh MacAlister

The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator, and any decision to introduce a new regulatory condition would be for the OfS to determine. The Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce and department are working closely with the OfS as part of our work to improve consistency and raise standards in how providers support student mental health. This includes considering regulatory options alongside other levers such as governance, assurance and strengthened good practice frameworks. We will set out our position following advice from the taskforce, which is helping identify what a clear, strong and proportionate framework should look like.

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