Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage schools to provide (a) support, (b) guidance and (c) information for pupils with anorexia nervosa.

Schools should consider how to provide appropriate support to all students, based on their individual circumstances. One of the best ways is as part of a ‘whole-school’ approach, in which pastoral and behavioural support systems recognise the role that all staff have a part to play in supporting and maintaining the positive emotional wellbeing for all pupils. This can include effective teaching about mental health through the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum and involvement of specialists in schools who can provide more specific support where needed.

We have funded guidance and age-appropriate lesson plans on teaching mental health in PSHE. This includes information on eating disorders.

We have funded MindEd, a free online portal which has been developed to enable all adults working with children and young people, including teachers, to learn more about specific mental health problems and how to support them. MindEd includes specific modules on eating disorders. MindEd is available at: https://www.minded.org.uk/.

We also have recently revised and updated our counselling guidance which provides practical, evidence-based advice on how to ensure school based counselling services achieve the best outcomes for all students. This is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools

However, teachers are not mental health professionals. Support and treatment for eating disorders such as anorexia can require joined up action from schools and specialists. We are contributing to a £3m joint pilot between schools and specialist mental health services, to ensure students have timely access to appropriate specialist support where needed.

To increase this specialist support, the Government is providing £150m to improve specialist treatment for children and young people diagnosed with eating disorders, as part of its wider investment of an additional £1.4bn in children and young people’s mental health this Parliament. This funding is accompanied by a new standard specifically for young people with eating disorders, aiming by 2020 to get 95% seen within four weeks, or one week for urgent cases.