Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Transforming Mental Health Provision Green Paper, what his plans are to deliver mental health first aid training to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; and how many (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools have received that training.

When the ‘Government Response to the Consultation on Transforming Children and

Young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper and Next Steps’ was published in 2018, we had trained a member of staff in mental health first aid in a third of state secondary schools and in our response set out an aim to reach 1,000 schools in the year following publication.

However, in the context of the pandemic and with feedback from schools, we are prioritising training for staff to raise awareness about wellbeing and mental health. The Department for Education’s Wellbeing for Education Return and Wellbeing for Education Recovery programme provides free expert training, support and resources for staff reaching up to 15,000 schools.

In February 2021, Public Health England launched a free online Psychological First Aid training course aimed at people who care for or work with children and young people aged up to 25 years old.