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1330115

registered interest
date	07/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of pupils' mental health and wellbeing during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Hove
tabling member printed	Peter Kyle
uin	11600
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2021 answer text <p>We are working with the Department of Health and Social Care to monitor the emerging evidence on the experiences of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak to ensure the support measures being put in place by the government, including in the longer term, are informed by the most up-to-date evidence.</p><p>In particular, Public Health England is monitoring the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, including on children and young people, and is publishing regular surveillance reports. Their report about population mental health and wellbeing in England during the COVID-19 outbreak was last updated on 8 April: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-surveillance-report" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-surveillance-report</a>.</p><p>On 10 October 2020, the Department for Education published its second annual ‘State of the Nation’ report, which focused on children and young people’s experience associated with wellbeing during the COVID-19 outbreak. The report has helped the government, children and young people’s services, schools, parents and anyone interested in children and young people’s wellbeing to understand children and young people’s experiences of the COVID-19 outbreak, the measures put in place to reduce the impact of the outbreak, and the broader effects on society.</p><p>The department has also been collecting regular survey data on children and young people’s wellbeing and experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak. We expect to publish this data in the autumn.</p><p>Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this government. We have supported schools and colleges to put the right pastoral support in place through the Wellbeing for Education Return scheme in the 2020/21 academic year, which funded expert advisers in every English local authority to offer training, support and resources for staff dealing with children and young people experiencing additional pressures from the last year – including trauma, anxiety, or grief. Our Mental Health in Education Action Group highlighted that schools and colleges continue to need help to understand, navigate and access the range of provision available locally, so we provided an additional £7 million funding to local authorities to provide further expert support to do this through the Wellbeing for Education Recovery programme.</p><p>On 5 March 2021, we announced an additional £79 million to accelerate the significant planned expansion of children and young people’s mental health services, which will allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services; this includes 2,000 more children and young people getting access to eating disorder services and accelerating the coverage of mental health support teams over the financial year 2021/22. This will enable community mental health services to provide more children and young people more timely care.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 10/06/2021 12:45:16 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4505 label Biography information for Peter Kyle

1329680

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to invest in improving the (a) emotional well-being and (b) mental health of school children as part of the schools recovery plan.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Dame Diana Johnson
uin	10232
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2021 answer text <p>Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this government. The support schools are providing to their pupils following the return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting mental health and wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting recovery. We want schools to have the freedom to decide what wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice. The return to education settings was supported by a £700 million package, which includes a new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary, secondary and special schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This will help schools to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a one-off boost to the support, both academic and pastoral, that has been proved most effective in helping them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and can be used for mental health and wellbeing support.</p><p>We have supported schools to put the right pastoral support in place through the Wellbeing for Education Return scheme in academic year 2020/21, which funded expert advisors in every English local authority to offer training, support and resources for staff dealing with children and young people experiencing additional pressures from the last year – including trauma, anxiety, or grief. Our Mental Health in Education Action Group highlighted that schools and colleges continue to need help to understand, navigate and access the range of provision available locally, so we provided an additional £7 million funding to local authorities to provide further expert support to do this through the Wellbeing for Education Recovery programme.</p><p>On 10 May 2021 we confirmed that up to 7,800 schools and colleges in England will be offered funding worth £9.5 million to train a senior mental health lead from their staff in the next academic year, which is part of the government’s commitment to offering this training to all state schools and colleges by 2025. Training will provide senior leads with the knowledge and skills to develop or introduce a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing in their setting, which encourages staff to develop their own understanding of issues affecting their pupils, giving young people a voice in how their school or college addresses wellbeing and working with parents and monitoring pupils where appropriate. We will also fund an adapted ‘Link' programme which is designed to improve partnerships between health and education leaders in local areas, raise awareness of mental health concerns and improve referrals to specialist help when needed.</p><p>This is in addition to the £79 million funding boost for NHS England children and young people’s mental health support announced in March, which will include increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams. The number of support teams will grow from the 59 set up by last March to around 400 by April 2023, supporting nearly 3 million children. This increase, on top of the investment in mental health services set out in the NHS 10-year plan, means that millions of children and young people will have access to significantly expanded mental health services.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 09/06/2021 09:48:51 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

1300741

registered interest
date	09/03/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether funding for the Wellbeing in Education Return Programme is planned to continue after March 2021.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	165487
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2021 answer text <p>Our £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return project funded until the end of March has provided support, advice and resources for schools and colleges. Programme estimates suggest that training and support has already reached up to 15,000 schools giving schools across the country information and strategies to help them to respond to the mental wellbeing issues that children and young people are facing. Webinar content covering wellbeing and resilience, bereavement and loss, trauma, anxiety, stress and low mood will remain freely available on the MindEd platform for all education settings to use and adapt to their particular setting: <a href="https://www.minded.org.uk/Component/Details/662137" target="_blank">https://www.minded.org.uk/Component/Details/662137</a>.</p><p>We are considering how we can build on this to provide further support for children, young people, and staff as they return to education. The department’s Mental Health in Education Action Group has identified 5 areas where we can look to make use of health provision and expertise to support education settings further in the short term, including:</p><ul><li>clear advice and sources of support for the issues that education staff find the most difficult to deal with</li><li>good information and materials on specific issues that children and young people are seeking help with to inform pastoral support</li><li>bringing together sources of online/text/app support and setting out how this can complement school and college pastoral support and face-to-face provision</li><li>clear advice to schools on how to use catch-up and recovery premium most effectively pastoral support, linking them to evidence-based local and national provision</li><li>providing wellbeing support for students who are making the transition into secondary school and post-16 education, especially those who have been out of education for a significant time to support them to stay in learning.</li></ul><p>The department will bring together specific groups of partners and stakeholders, including education representatives, to take action on each making the best use of existing support in the immediate term and identifying opportunities to strengthen support further. The department will also continue to engage with education stakeholders, including staff and leadership unions, to further understand the issues and put other action in place.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 12/03/2021 13:35:38 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1287190

registered interest
date	19/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the awareness among school pupils of mental health issues; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	154735
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2021 answer text <p>The government is committed to promoting and supporting the mental health of children and young people.</p><p>Since September 2020, all pupils and students in state-funded schools are being taught about mental health as part of compulsory relationship, sex and health education. We are providing support for teaching that covers all of the key teaching requirements and prioritised the production of the training module covering mental wellbeing, so that it was available before the end of the summer term last year. Further information can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health</a>.</p><p>The government is also providing information and advice directly to children, young people and families. Public Health England have produced guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing and adapted its Every Mind Matters and Rise Above platforms in the context of the outbreak. Further information can be found here: <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/?WT.tsrc=Search&amp;WT.mc_id=Brand&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuKSHjPr97gIVCbDtCh2XSwvcEAAYASAAEgKgJfD_BwE" target="_blank">https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/?WT.tsrc=Search&amp;WT.mc_id=Brand&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuKSHjPr97gIVCbDtCh2XSwvcEAAYASAAEgKgJfD_BwE</a> and <a href="https://riseabove.org.uk/" target="_blank">https://riseabove.org.uk/</a>.</p><p>We know that the COVID-19 outbreak is having an effect on the mental wellbeing of children and young people. Our Wellbeing for Education Return programme, backed by £8 million, has trained local experts to provide additional advice and resources for schools and further education providers to help support pupil and student, parent and carer, and staff wellbeing, resilience and recovery in light of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown. It will give staff the confidence to support pupils and students, their parents, carers and their own colleagues, and know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed. Additional information can be accessed here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-pupils-wellbeing" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-pupils-wellbeing</a>.</p><p>The department is convening a Mental Health in Education Action Group, to look at the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and staff in nurseries, schools, colleges, and universities. It will consider how to support mental wellbeing while children and young people are being taught remotely, as they return to education settings and with transitions between education settings in September 2021.</p><p>The government remains committed to long term improvements to support children and young people’s mental health, set out in the government’s response to its green paper and NHS Long Term Plan. This includes rolling out new Mental Health Support Teams to work with a fifth to a quarter of schools and colleges across the country by academic year 2023/24, offering training for a senior mental health lead in every state school in the country, and Link Programme training for all schools and colleges to help frontline health and education professionals work together effectively<strong>. </strong></p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 24/02/2021 10:57:07 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

1279265

registered interest
date	21/01/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Wellbeing for Education Return programme has (a) supported children since its introduction in September 2020 and (b) how the funding for that programme has been distributed to date by region.
tabling member constituency	Harlow
tabling member printed	Robert Halfon
uin	141429
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/01/2021 answer text <p>The department has worked with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Health Education England (HEE), Public Health England (PHE) and key voluntary sector organisations, to deliver Wellbeing for Education Return. This project, backed by £8m, has trained local experts to provide additional advice and resources for schools and colleges to help support pupil and student, parent and carer, and staff wellbeing, resilience and recovery in light of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown. It is intended to give education staff the confidence to support pupils and students, their parents, carers and their own colleagues, and know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed.</p><p>Wellbeing for Education Return funding was distributed to all local authority areas in England on 30 September 2020. Local authorities have been funded according to the number of state funded schools and colleges in their locality. Further details on allocations can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wellbeing-for-education-return-grant-s31-grant-determination-letter" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wellbeing-for-education-return-grant-s31-grant-determination-letter</a>.</p><p>Local experts from 97% of England’s Local Authority areas have now been trained to deliver support and resources into schools and colleges.</p><p>Over 85% of local authority areas in England have reported that they are delivering additional training and support into local schools and colleges as a result of funding. Nationally, our information indicates that more than 15,000 education settings are being offered this additional training and support.</p><p>In recognition of the significant pressures on school and college staff, local areas are tailoring their support, and offering interactive training sessions and follow up support on key themes to support the mental health and wellbeing of staff and pupils in response to COVID-19.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 27/01/2021 18:34:17 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon

1279267

registered interest
date	21/01/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department is providing to (a) Place2Be and (b) other children’s mental health charities that provide support within schools and colleges, in academic year 2020-21; and how much of that funding has been distributed to date, by region.
tabling member constituency	Harlow
tabling member printed	Robert Halfon
uin	141430
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2021 answer text <p>The department does not provide specific funding to Place2Be or other mental health charities to provide support within schools and colleges.</p><p>It is up to schools and colleges to decide what support to offer to students, drawing on support from specialist services. Many schools use their funding to bring in support from charities, but we do not collect details of spend.</p><p>The Department for Education is currently providing the biggest increase to schools funding in a decade, with total additional investment of £14 billion across the next 3 years. There has already been a £2.6 billion increase in 2020-21, including £780 million for high needs, and there will be an increase of £4.8 billion compared to 2019-20 in 2021-22, including £730 million for high needs. There will also be an increase of £7.1 billion for schools and high needs compared to 2019-20, in 2022-23. High needs funding provides for children with complex special educational needs and disabilities including social, emotional and mental health issues, continues to be provided to local authorities as normal.</p><p>To support the return to school, the government has also announced an additional £650 million ‘catch up’ premium, as part of our wider £1 billion COVID-19 catch up package, to be shared across all state-funded schools over the 2020/21 academic year. This can be used to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, as a method of helping pupils to catch up after a period of disruption to their education.</p><p>On 27 January 2021, the government announced a further £300 million of new funding for high-quality tutoring to help children and young people catch up. The government will be working in collaboration with the education sector to develop specific initiatives for summer schools and a COVID premium to support catch up, alongside developing a long-term plan to support pupils to catch up over the course of this Parliament. Further detail on this funding and support will be confirmed in due course.</p><p>As part of our joint Green Paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, we are introducing Mental Health Support Teams to provide mental health support to groups of schools and colleges. These are currently being rolled out across England and charities are leading the provision of teams in some areas.</p><p>The government is also funding charities to provide wider support to children, young people and families affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The department is providing £11 million to the See, Hear Respond programme between June 2020 and March 2021), delivered by a consortium of national and local charities to support vulnerable children and young people whose usual support networks have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and associated restrictions. The programme provides support to those at risk of harm outside of the home, for new or struggling parents and to successfully connect or reintegrate children and young people back into education. It is particularly equipped to work with children under 5 years old and those who are experiencing a negative impact on their mental health.</p><p>Additionally, the government has provided £9 million funding to mental health charities – including Mind, the Samaritans, Young Minds, and Bipolar UK to help them adapt, expand and reach those who are most vulnerable.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 29/01/2021 16:40:56 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon

1245602

registered interest
date	21/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding he will provide to schools to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing during the 2020-21 academic year.
tabling member constituency	Luton North
tabling member printed	Sarah Owen
uin	107114
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member for Luton North to the answers I gave on 21 October 2020 to Questions <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-10-15/104035" target="_blank">104035</a> and <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-10-15/104036" target="_blank">104036</a>.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 02/11/2020 13:36:32 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4777 label Biography information for Sarah Owen

1231708

registered interest
date	07/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps his Department is taking to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people as they return to school as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
tabling member constituency	Bromley and Chislehurst
tabling member printed	Sir Robert Neill
uin	905514
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2020 answer text <p>Getting children and young people back into education, with settings devoting time to supporting wellbeing, will play a fundamental part in supporting children and young people’s mental health. The return to school will allow social interaction with peers, carers and teachers, which benefits wellbeing. The department has now published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance for schools is available here: <br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools</a>.</p><p> </p><p>We have been working hard to ensure that all pupils and learners will return to a full high-quality education programme in September. Our £1 billion Covid catch-up package, with £650 million shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, will support education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. More information is available here: <br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time</a>.</p><p> </p><p>As pupils return to school, staff need to be equipped to understand that some children and young people may be experiencing feelings in such as anxiety, stress or low mood as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, and that these are normal responses to an abnormal situation. Our Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools Advice includes information about what to look for in terms of underlying mental health issues, linked to the graduated response and the support that might be suitable. More information is available here: <br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2</a>.</p><p> </p><p>From September, the Government is investing £8 million to launch the new Wellbeing for Education Return training programme, which will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and practical skills they need to support teachers, students and parents, to help improve how they respond to the emotional impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This is additional to longer term work to improve support, including the new mental health support teams that we are rolling out across the country, linked to schools and colleges. More information is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/8m-programme-to-boost-pupil-and-teacher-wellbeing" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/8m-programme-to-boost-pupil-and-teacher-wellbeing</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The department in collaboration with Public Health England and NHS England, delivered two webinars in July to provide further mental health support. The first webinar was for schools and colleges to support teachers in promoting and supporting the mental wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. The second event was for stakeholders across the local system to support strengthening of local partnerships to further support children and young people’s mental health as they return to school. We had around 10,000 sign up to the first webinar and around 1,300 to the second, and they are now available online for wider use.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to working in partnership across education, health, the voluntary sector and local authorities to ensure that children and young people, parents and carers, and the professionals supporting them:</p><ul><li>can access good-quality resources</li><li>are confident in supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing (as well as their own) and</li></ul><ul><li>ensure access to specialist services when they’re needed.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Access to mental health support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak. NHS mental services remain open. All NHS mental health trusts are providing 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. The Government has also provided over £9 million to mental health charities to ensure they can continue to support people experiencing mental health challenges throughout the outbreak.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 905505 question first answered 07/09/2020 15:10:07 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	1601 label Biography information for Sir Robert Neill

1231709

registered interest
date	07/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps his Department is taking to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people as they return to school as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
tabling member constituency	Cheadle
tabling member printed	Mary Robinson
uin	905505
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2020 answer text <p>Getting children and young people back into education, with settings devoting time to supporting wellbeing, will play a fundamental part in supporting children and young people’s mental health. The return to school will allow social interaction with peers, carers and teachers, which benefits wellbeing. The department has now published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance for schools is available here: <br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools</a>.</p><p> </p><p>We have been working hard to ensure that all pupils and learners will return to a full high-quality education programme in September. Our £1 billion Covid catch-up package, with £650 million shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, will support education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. More information is available here: <br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time</a>.</p><p> </p><p>As pupils return to school, staff need to be equipped to understand that some children and young people may be experiencing feelings in such as anxiety, stress or low mood as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, and that these are normal responses to an abnormal situation. Our Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools Advice includes information about what to look for in terms of underlying mental health issues, linked to the graduated response and the support that might be suitable. More information is available here: <br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2</a>.</p><p> </p><p>From September, the Government is investing £8 million to launch the new Wellbeing for Education Return training programme, which will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and practical skills they need to support teachers, students and parents, to help improve how they respond to the emotional impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This is additional to longer term work to improve support, including the new mental health support teams that we are rolling out across the country, linked to schools and colleges. More information is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/8m-programme-to-boost-pupil-and-teacher-wellbeing" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/8m-programme-to-boost-pupil-and-teacher-wellbeing</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The department in collaboration with Public Health England and NHS England, delivered two webinars in July to provide further mental health support. The first webinar was for schools and colleges to support teachers in promoting and supporting the mental wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. The second event was for stakeholders across the local system to support strengthening of local partnerships to further support children and young people’s mental health as they return to school. We had around 10,000 sign up to the first webinar and around 1,300 to the second, and they are now available online for wider use.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to working in partnership across education, health, the voluntary sector and local authorities to ensure that children and young people, parents and carers, and the professionals supporting them:</p><ul><li>can access good-quality resources</li><li>are confident in supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing (as well as their own) and</li></ul><ul><li>ensure access to specialist services when they’re needed.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Access to mental health support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak. NHS mental services remain open. All NHS mental health trusts are providing 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. The Government has also provided over £9 million to mental health charities to ensure they can continue to support people experiencing mental health challenges throughout the outbreak.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 905514 question first answered 07/09/2020 15:10:07 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4406 label Biography information for Mary Robinson

1220360

registered interest
date	02/07/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Mental Health
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding he plans to allocate to supporting children’s mental wellbeing when pupils return to school during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	68375
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2020 answer text <p>The return to school is a vital factor in supporting the mental wellbeing of pupils. We have encouraged schools to focus on pastoral support as more pupils return to school this term. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 are now able to return to primary school, and Year 10 and Year 12 pupils are able to receive face-to-face support at secondary school. Primary schools with capacity can bring back additional groups, in line with existing protective measures. We have also given schools the flexibility to have face-to-face ‘check-ups’ with all pupils during the summer term.</p><p>The department has now published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance highlights the particular need to focus on pastoral support and mental wellbeing as a central part of what schools provide, in order to re-engage them and rebuild social interaction with their friends and teachers. This will involve curriculum provision as well as extra-curricular and pastoral support, and our recently published relationships, sex and health education training module will support teachers with preparation to deliver content on mental health and wellbeing. The guidance for schools is available here:<br><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-and-colleges-to-reopen-in-full-in-september" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-and-colleges-to-reopen-in-full-in-september</a>.</p><p>To support the return to school, the government has announced a £650 million ‘catch up’ premium, as part of our wider £1 billion Covid catch-up package, to be shared across state-funded schools over the 2020-21 academic year. School leaders will have the discretion on how to use this funding to best support their pupils to catch up for lost time, which in some cases will include support to parents, carers and children to help them re-engage with learning.</p><p>Access to mental health support is more important than every during the COVID-19 outbreak. NHS services remain open, and leading mental health charities are being supported to deliver additional services through the £5 million Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund. During Mental Health Awareness Week, the government also announced that a further £4.2 million will be awarded to mental health charities, including the Samaritans, Young Minds and Bipolar UK. All NHS mental health trusts have been asked to ensure that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. Public Health England and Health Education England have also developed advice and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, which is available at:<br><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing</a>.</p><p>In addition, the Government has provided funding to voluntary and community sector organisations to support them to offer free confidential support to children and young people. This can be accessed anytime either by texting SHOUT to 85258, or by calling Childline on 0800 1111 or The Mix on 0808 808 4994. Children and young people can also find online information on COVID-19 and mental health on the Young Minds website, which is available at:<br> <a href="https://youngminds.org.uk/about-us/reports/coronavirus-impact-on-young-people-with-mental-health-needs/" target="_blank">https://youngminds.org.uk/about-us/reports/coronavirus-impact-on-young-people-with-mental-health-needs/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 68374 question first answered 10/07/2020 13:19:02 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell