Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure the provision of trained counsellors in all schools and colleges that do not offer a trained counsellor through projects piloted under the proposals in Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper; and if he will make a statement.

The Government believes that schools are best placed to make decisions on the most appropriate support for their pupils, and is aware that many schools provide a valued counselling service. To support more schools to do so the Government has provided advice on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools.

New Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) will not replace the service that school-based counselling provides but will increase the support available to schools and their pupils who have emerging mental health problems. The Government is consulting on the structure of MHSTs, and will test different models for their implementation through the trailblazers programme.

The green paper proposed additional funding for the new professionals in the MHSTs to be trained in evidence-based interventions, supervised by expert clinicians. The Government’s response to the green paper consultation will provide further information on the trailblazer programme, and on the training that will be provided to MHSTs.