Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps with the Department of Education to introduce a counselling strategy for schools.

This is a matter for the Department for Education (DfE).

Schools can play an important role in supporting pupils with mental health issues. We want them to decide how best to meet the needs of their pupils. DfE has taken a range of actions to help them build a whole-school approach to good mental wellbeing, including the recently revised and updated blueprint for effective school-based counselling. This provides practical, evidence-based advice, informed by experts on how to ensure school based counselling services achieve the best outcomes for all students, including vulnerable children and young people. The weblink to the guidance, Counselling in schools: a blueprint for the future - Departmental advice for school leaders and counsellors is:

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