Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are considering the provision of independent mental health counselling for pupils in all secondary schools in England.

We believe that schools are best placed to make decisions on the most appropriate support for their pupils, and we know that many schools already provide a valued counselling service. To support more schools to do so, the government has provided the attached guidance on delivering high quality school-based counselling.

Our green paper, ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’, attached, sets out proposals to provide significant further help to schools. These include the introduction of Mental Health Support Teams, which will increase the support available to pupils with emerging mental health problems. Additional funding will be provided for new professionals trained in evidence-based interventions, with supervision from expert clinicians. The teams will provide better routes into specialist NHS services for the pupils who need them.