Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mandatory education is provided to pupils and students at (a) schools and (b) universities on eating disorders.

Through our new compulsory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, pupils can learn about how to stay safe and healthy, and how to positively manage their academic, personal and social lives.

Body image and mental wellbeing are explicitly covered in the RSHE curriculum and, at secondary level, teachers may choose to discuss eating disorders when teaching these topics. However, schools are not medical professionals. It is important that school staff understand eating disorders to inform the pastoral support that they offer to pupils and how to seek specialist support where it is needed, particularly as there has been an increase in referrals to eating disorder services during the COVID-19 outbreak. The government’s £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme funded advisers in every local authority in England, reaching up to 15,000 schools with free expert training, support and resources for education staff to help them understand and respond to the mental wellbeing issues faced by children and young people. The department is providing an additional £7 million in this financial year to extend that support with an additional focus on directing schools towards the right local support.

Higher education providers are autonomous bodies, independent from the government and have a responsibility to support students with mental health conditions. They are well placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including those who may have eating disorders. It is for each provider to determine what welfare and counselling services are needed by its students.

The government has set up the first waiting time standard for children and young people eating disorder services so that 95% of children with an eating disorder will receive treatment within one week for urgent cases, and within four weeks for routine cases. In the 2021-22 financial year, NHS England will receive around an additional £500 million to support recovery, which includes £79 million to expand children’s mental health services significantly, including allowing 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services.