Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on educating children and young people about online trolling and the support that is available to them to aid psychological wellbeing and build resilience.

Across Government, we are clear for the need to take action to tackle the increase in cyberbullying and are incorporating such action within related work streams across health, education and culture. The Department of Education is clear that all schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying - including cyberbullying - and recognise that bullying of any kind can now, just as easily, occur online as face to face.

Teaching about social media and internet safety will be integrated into the new subjects of Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education, which schools will be encouraged and supported to teach from September 2019 and required to teach from September 2020. Pupils will be taught about online risks so they can learn to recognise potential dangers for themselves, and about broader steps they can take to protect and support their own and others’ health and wellbeing.

The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education will continue to work together as we enter the implementation phase of the Green Paper on Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services, which aims to improve provision of mental health support in schools and enable children and young people to access earlier help for emerging problems.