Recipient

St John's College, Oxford

First report 3 Feb 2021•Latest report 3 Feb 2021

Recipient record

Reports, concerns and published responses

Other public bodies · Constituent university college. This page brings together reports naming this recipient and response statements clearly connected to concerns raised in those reports.

Reports: 1
Published responses: 100%
Concerns addressed: 3
Stated actions: 4

Reports over time

Reports naming this recipient by issue year.

Evidence profile

Report topics

Share of this recipient’s reports compared with all other recipients.

100%published responses found

4stated actions described

Topic comparisons are not available in the current evidence snapshot.

Concerns and recipient responses

Statements from St John's College, Oxford linked to the concerns in each report. Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.

3 Feb2021
Inner West London
Concerns raised3
1. Lack of an overarching Oxford University drug policy agreed by all colleges
2. Failure to align disciplinary policy with support for students suffering from drug addiction
3. Failure to widely advertise drug misuse policies
Responses linked to these concerns
Each statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response 4
1. Action
  Rewrite the student handbook section to clarify confidential addiction support and protection from potential legal or disciplinary consequences.
  Stated planned
2. Action
  Run a Welfare week raising awareness of drugs, addiction, drug misuse and available internal and external support, with student representatives.
  Stated planned
3. Action
  Participate in the inter-college task-and-finish group through the Principal Bursar and Welfare Dean.
  Stated planned
1. Action
  Adopt the template drug policy developed for Oxford colleges.
  Stated planned
AI-generated summary

Daniel Brian Mervis · Prevention of Future Deaths report

This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

Report summary

Daniel Brian Mervis died aged 23 after a mixed drug overdose on 25 October 2019. He had a history of drug misuse and addiction, relapsed in the final two months of his life, and was found deceased in the flat of a known drug dealer. Concerns included the lack of an overarching drug policy across Oxford University colleges, a potential conflict between disciplinary measures and support for students with drug addiction, and the need for drug misuse policies to be more widely advertised.

Read the report on judiciary.uk
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to St John's College, Oxford; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Lack of an overarching Oxford University drug policy agreed by all colleges
Wider context from the report
“1. That Oxford University has no overarching policy agreed by all colleges, and that St John’s should encourage the University to develop the same. ”
Open source report
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to St John's College, Oxford; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Failure to align disciplinary policy with support for students suffering from drug addiction
Wider context from the report
“2. That there is an apparent conflict between St John’s stated policy to deal with utmost severity with those students who misuse or supply drugs, and the apparent support those students who suffer with drug addiction are offered. This conflict may discourage such students to seek help for their addiction out of fear of the consequences, either legal or disciplinary. A policy of the College which is well publicised and stresses the confidential nature of support offered may mitigate this risk. ”
Open source report
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to St John's College, Oxford; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Failure to widely advertise drug misuse policies
Wider context from the report
“3. That St John’s drug misuse policies should be more widely advertised for example at Fresher’s week. ”
Open source report
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Rewrite the student handbook section to clarify confidential addiction support and protection from potential legal or disciplinary consequences.

Verbatim wording from the response
“2. St John’s will adopt the template policy outlined in response one. In addition to this it will be rewriting the appropriate section of the student handbook to make sure that there is greater clarity about the confidential support that students are able to receive without worrying about any potential legal or disciplinary consequences.”

Source location
2021-0027-Response-from-St-Johns-College-Oxford-Redacted
Page 2 · response
Published 9 February 2021
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Run a Welfare week raising awareness of drugs, addiction, drug misuse and available internal and external support, with student representatives.

Verbatim wording from the response
“3. St John’s will make sure that this continues to be included fully in Fresher’s week. In addition, we will run a Welfare week (most likely in 5th week of the first term of the academic year) where, amongst other matters, we will try and raise a broader awareness of drugs, the consequences of addiction and drug misuse, and the support available to students both from within St John’s and from external agencies. We will work with our student representatives to make sure this is as meaningful as possible.”

Source location
2021-0027-Response-from-St-Johns-College-Oxford-Redacted
Page 2 · response
Published 9 February 2021
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Participate in the inter-college task-and-finish group through the Principal Bursar and Welfare Dean.

Verbatim wording from the response
“1. The Conference of Colleges (a forum for the Colleges of the University of Oxford to deal with matters of shared interest and common purpose) has set up a Task and Finish group, to be led by the Master of Pembroke College. The intention is to set up a template policy that all Colleges will be able to adopt. St John’s College will be represented on the working group by the Principal Bursar and the Welfare Dean.”

Source location
2021-0027-Response-from-St-Johns-College-Oxford-Redacted
Page 1 · response
Published 9 February 2021
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Adopt the template drug policy developed for Oxford colleges.

Verbatim wording from the response
“2. St John’s will adopt the template policy outlined in response one. In addition to this it will be rewriting the appropriate section of the student handbook to make sure that there is greater clarity about the confidential support that students are able to receive without worrying about any potential legal or disciplinary consequences.”

Source location
2021-0027-Response-from-St-Johns-College-Oxford-Redacted
Page 2 · response
Published 9 February 2021
Open published response

Information checked against published PFD reports and official responses · Data reviewed 7 Sep 2026 · About data quality and limitations

Data last updated 7 September 2026

Reports, concerns and published responses

Reports over time

Concerns raised3

Lack of an overarching Oxford University drug policy agreed by all colleges

Failure to align disciplinary policy with support for students suffering from drug addiction

Failure to widely advertise drug misuse policies

Actions described in response An action is something this recipient says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.4

Actions described in response 4