Healthy FE Programme launched to improve health and wellbeing of staff and students

A new national initiative to help improve the health and wellbeing of students and staff in further education colleges was announced today by Bill Rammell, Minister for Further Education, at the National Learners Panel annual event.

The National Healthy FE initiative, funded by the Department of Health, with support from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) will be developed with further education colleges and representative bodies, to improve access to health related advice, information and guidance through the colleges.

Minister for Further Education, Bill Rammell said:

"I am delighted to announce cross-government support for a new ‘National Healthy FE’ initiative, which will be of particular benefit to young people coping with the transition to adulthood. We know that their support needs are complex and diverse, and without a comprehensive, planned, but flexible approach, too many can leave without realising their full potential.

"There is nothing more important than giving children and young people the best start in life they can possibly get. We believe that the Healthy FE initiative will build upon what a number of colleges have already been actively encouraging, by providing them with even more tools and support to address the health and wellbeing needs of their students and staff.

"We want this initiative to be owned and led by the further education sector and I urge college principals to get involved working with local partners, and so further enhancing the support available to students through their local colleges."

Today’s announcement supports government intentions to extend the principles of the successful National Healthy Schools Programme to colleges, and will be used to foster closer ties between health and education within the FE sector.

Notes to editors:

1- This press notice applies to England only.

2- In the Department for Health (DH) white paper, ‘Choosing Health’ (2004), government made a commitment to ‘extend the principles of the National Healthy School Programme (NHSP) to institutions providing education to an older age group’ and ‘support the initiatives being taken locally by some colleges and universities to develop a strategy for health that integrates health into the organisation’s structure to create healthy working, learning and living environments’.

3- This voluntary programme is supported by the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills, the Department for Health and the Department for Children, Schools and Families and is being developed following a consultation process which highlighted a number of colleges who are excelling in this area.

4- The National Healthy FE initiative is a direct response to demand from the FE sector for a coherent, national approach to the health education and advice needs of young people, adult learners and staff in Further Education.

5- Broad consultation highlighted that a number of FE colleges have developed ways to support the health education and advice needs of their college population. Without exception, the consultation found that FE colleges welcomed – often enthusiastically - the idea of a National Healthy FE initiative. The NHSP will provide the infrastructure needed to support the range of work undertaken in colleges and will give this work national recognition through a quality assured process.