Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what data they have on the impact of mental health support teams on (1) improving pupil mental health, and (2) improving teacher mental health.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Education and NHS England to consider how to deliver our commitment of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure that any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as mental health support teams in schools and colleges.
There were almost 8,500 schools and colleges participating in the mental health support team programme in 2023/24, which equates to 34% of the schools and colleges in England.
Assuming the average number of schools or colleges and pupils or learners per mental health support team remains constant, we estimate that coverage would increase to 54% of pupils or learners and 42% of schools or colleges by March 2025.
An interim report, titled Early evaluation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Trailblazer programme: a rapid mixed-methods study, was published in June 2023 and highlights the impacts of mental health support teams on improving pupil mental health and improving teacher mental health. A copy of the report is attached.
Data regarding the latest coverage of the mental health support team programme is routinely collected and published by the Department for Education.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their anticipated timescale for rolling out mental health support teams to every school and college.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Education and NHS England to consider how to deliver our commitment of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure that any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as mental health support teams in schools and colleges.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for mental health support teams in schools to include a specialist child counsellor.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Education and NHS England to consider how to deliver our commitment of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure that any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as mental health support teams in schools and colleges.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund the national roll-out of mental health support teams across all schools and colleges in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Mental health support teams now cover approximately 44% of pupils in England and we are working to increase this coverage to 50% of pupils by March 2025. The further rollout of mental health support teams will be subject to future spending decisions.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for administering the Nursery Milk Scheme to children only until their fifth birthday rather than until the end of the academic year in which that birthday falls.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Nursery Milk Scheme allows early years childcare settings such as childminders and nurseries to reclaim the cost of providing one-third of a pint of milk to children under five years old who attend their childcare setting for at least two hours per day. Schools are also allowed to claim under this scheme in respect of pupils under the age of five years old. There are no current plans to extend the Nursery Milk Scheme to cover other school pupils.
The School Food Standards require lower-fat or lactose free milk to be available in all schools. From the age of five years old onwards, pupils eligible for benefits-based free school meals are eligible for free school milk. In addition, the school milk subsidy scheme subsidises the cost of milk and certain milk products for children in primary and secondary schools including over fives. This means that participating schools can sell the products in schools at a lower price. More information on this scheme is available on GOV.UK in an online-only format.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the roll-out of funding for Mental Health Support Teams beyond 2025.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
There are currently approximately 400 mental health support teams in place in schools and colleges across England, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues and covering over three million children or approximately 35% of pupils. We estimate this will increase to 44% by April 2024 and we are aiming to increase this coverage to 50% of pupils by March 2025.
The Government is investing an additional £3.3 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the National Health Service in England. Future financial plans, including details on the further rollout of mental health support teams, will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report Children and young people’s mental health services: Targets, progress and barriers to improvement published by the Education Policy Institute on 10 December.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We have made no such assessment. However, we are committed to increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by March 2024 and have set out our aim in the NHS Long Term Plan for an additional 345,000 children and young people to be able to get the mental health support they need.
We continue to work with the Department for Education to implement the proposals of the Government’s Transforming children and young people’s mental health green paper. A copy of the green paper is attached.
There are now almost 400 mental health support teams in place in schools and colleges across England. Mental health support teams now cover over three million children or approximately 35% of pupils in schools and colleges. We aim to increase this coverage to 50% by April 2025.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of children in England referred to mental health services in each year from 2018 to 2021 were looked after children.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The information is not held in the format requested as the number of looked after children referred to mental health services is not collected.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many looked after children in England were referred to mental health services in (1) 2021, and (2) 2020.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The information is not held in the format requested as the number of looked after children referred to mental health services is not collected.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children in England (1) attended, and (2) were admitted through, Accident and Emergency departments for self-harming in each year from 2018 to 2021; and what percentage of those were looked after children.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of unplanned attendances and admissions for self-harming of children and young people through accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England in each year from 2018 to 2021. Data on looked after children is not available as this information is not recorded in hospital data.
Financial year | All unplanned A&E attendances for patients aged 0-18 years old coded as ‘deliberate self harm’ | Hospital admissions through emergency departments for patients aged 0-18 years old with a cause code of 'self-poisoning' or 'self-harm' |
2017-18 | 21,744 | 22,308 |
2018-19 | 25,138 | 23,327 |
2019-20 | 25,432 | 23,617 |
2020-21 | 18,425 | 23,501 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital