Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of (a) sixth-form, (b) secondary, and (c) primary schools offer (i) counselling services and (ii) access to counselling support.

The Department recognises that school-based counselling by qualified practitioners can play an effective role in supporting mental health and wellbeing. It is up to schools to decide what support to provide for pupils based on their individual circumstances and this information is not collected by the Department.

The Department carried out a nationally representative survey of school provision for mental health published in 2017. This indicated that 61% of schools offer counselling services, with 84% of secondary schools providing their pupils with access to counselling support.[1] The Government has published guidance on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling and this can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/634726/Supporting_Mental-Health_survey_report.pdf.