Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to extend mental health education in schools to (a) colleges and (b) post-16 institutions.

The department has made health education compulsory in all state-funded schools, helping pupils to make good decisions about their health and wellbeing and seek support when needed.

While there is no national curriculum in post-16, the government encourages a whole-institution approach to mental health and wellbeing. This includes supporting the Association of Colleges in their goal for 100% sign-up to their Mental Health Charter and to align it with the University Mental Health Charter.

All further education (FE) colleges are funded to provide health and wellbeing tuition as part of their extra-curricular personal development activities. Many FE colleges have counselling services providing mental health support and 41% of learners in post-16 institutions are now covered by NHS-funded mental health support teams.

The government is committed to continuing the higher education (HE) Mental Health Implementation Taskforce. The Taskforce includes students, parents, mental health experts and the HE sector, and the government will soon appoint a new HE Student Support Champion as chair.