Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle the level of mental illness among primary and secondary school children.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We have high aspirations for all children and want them to be able to fulfil their potential both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing. This attainment is best supported if they have good mental health, character and resilience. Schools can play an important role in promoting good mental wellbeing and in responding to issues that arise.

To support them in doing this we have funded the PSHE Association to provide guidance and lesson plans which support age-appropriate teaching of mental health issues. We have also revised and updated our counselling guidance for schools to include a section on vulnerable children and what schools may need to do to make counselling accessible to them.

The department recently launched activity to identify how to help young people help their friends to talk about mental health issues, including a call for evidence for stakeholders and children and young people. We also announced funding of up to £1.5m for projects to take this forward once the call for evidence is complete, including a new digital innovation fund to develop reliable, engaging and trusted advice online to help them understand both their own, and their friends’ mental health.

Schools need support from specialist services locally to ensure that pupils with mental illness get the support they need. That is why the Government is investing an additional £1.4bn in children’s mental health this Parliament. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across the country have worked with partners, including schools and colleges, to produce local transformation plans for children and young people’s mental health services. These should set out what will be done locally to make the best use of the resources available – changing how CAMHS is delivered in response to the challenges set out in the Future in Mind report.

In addition we are contributing to a £3m joint pilot with NHS England which is testing how single points of contact in CAMHS and schools can secure effective mental health support to pupils. The pilots are involving over 250 schools in 27 CCG areas through joint training, which supports schools and CAMHS leads to identify specific activity to improve support in their area.