Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their timetable for updating the Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children, published in March 2015; whether there will be a specific focus on mental health services for this group; and how they plan to deliver updated guidance in a culturally sensitive way.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government gave a commitment to update the statutory guidance, ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children’ and extend it to care leavers up to the age of 25, in the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy for the reform of children’s social care. The update forms part of the wider mission in the strategy, ‘to reduce the disparities in long-term mental and physical health outcomes and improve wellbeing for care-experienced people’.
This commitment was reaffirmed in September 2023, but a timeframe for completing the update has not been set. However, the department and the Department of Health and Social Care continue to work together on this update and will work with a wide range of stakeholders with a diversity of professional and lived experience to ensure that the guidance is sensitive to the health and wellbeing needs of all looked-after children and care leavers.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take legal action to prevent the identification to litigants before the National College for Teaching and Leadership disciplinary tribunals of the whistleblowers in the Birmingham "Trojan Horse" investigation; and what is their policy regarding the anonymity of whistleblowing teachers and lecturers.
Answered by Lord Nash
We take the issue of witness anonymity extremely seriously.
The independent panel overseeing the teacher misconduct case of some of the individuals involved in the events related to Trojan Horse recently ordered the full disclosure of transcripts of interviews given to Peter Clarke. As a result of the independent panel’s direction, lawyers acting on behalf of NCTL wrote to witnesses to inform them of that decision, and stated that in the event that they had any comments or concerns in relation to the disclosure of their transcripts they should contact them. Since the direction, where we have written to witnesses and we have either not yet heard back from them or they have raised concerns, no disclosures have been made. We have informed the independent panel that a number of witnesses have raised concerns, and the panel has indicated that it wishes to consider the issue at a further hearing.
These issues are part of a set of complex legal proceedings and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure that children and teenagers receive adequate mental health care and support in schools, with particular reference to school nursing and pastoral provision.
Answered by Lord Nash
Schools have a duty to promote pupils' mental and physical development and are held to account by Ofsted for doing so. The new 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability code of practice, which was put before Parliament on 11th June 2014, makes it clear that schools should look to identify any underlying mental health needs that pupils have. To support this on the 16 June the Department for Education issued new information and advice for schools and teachers on pupils' mental health and behaviour. This advice helps school staff identify those pupils who may have emerging problems and provides guidance on appropriate routes of ensuring specialist support where necessary.
The curriculum gives schools the freedom to address any specific pastoral issues that pupils may have, and teachers can raise awareness of mental health issues in PSHE lessons. Additionally, many schools provide targeted assessment and support. A survey conducted by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy in 2012 estimated between 60-85% of English secondary schools provide access to counselling, delivering up to 70,000 sessions a year.
School nurses are in an ideal position to promote and maintain the health of children and young people. On 31 March the Department of Health and Public Health England published the Promoting emotional wellbeing and positive mental health of children and young people pathway. This provides a structured framework for school nurses, clarifying roles and responsibilities and giving information to enhance partnership working across agencies to support the emotional health of children and young people and to ensure early support is offered.