Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to increase the number of mental health counsellors working in schools.

The mental health of children is a priority for this government. We know schools can support pupil mental health in a variety of ways, particularly by providing safe, calm and supportive environments that promote good mental wellbeing and help prevent the onset of mental illness.

Schools are not specialist mental health providers, but they can play an important role in identifying and responding to emerging or existing mental health issues. This may include providing targeted pastoral support, or ensuring referrals are made to external specialist support.

It is important for schools to have the freedom to decide what support to offer to pupils based on their particular needs, drawing on an evidence base of effective practice. This support can include counselling, which can be an effective part of a whole school approach. However, counselling is not suitable for all needs and many pupils also benefit from other in-school support, including from trained pastoral staff and educational psychologists.

To support the effective use of training and guidance on mental health in schools, the department is funding all schools and colleges in England to train senior mental health leads who can put in place whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. More than 11,700 schools and colleges have now received a senior mental health lead training grant, including over half of the eligible schools/colleges and more than six in ten state-funded secondary schools. This is backed by £10 million in the 2022/23 financial year. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-mental-health-lead-training.

The department has also published a blueprint for schools on counselling services. This provides schools with practical, evidence-based advice, informed by schools and counselling experts, on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling.

To expand access to early mental health support, the Government is also increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools and colleges to 400 by 2023, covering around 35% of pupils in England. Over 500 MHSTs are planned to be up and running by 2024. Further information is available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/trailblazers/.