Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of poor mental health on educational (a) attainment and (b) inequality.

The department has not made a formal assessment of the impact of poor mental health on educational attainment and inequality, but the department is aware of a wide range of evidence that identifies an association between mental health and educational outcomes and that educational inequality is likely to be exacerbated by poor mental health.

A study published in British Medical Journal in 2019 suggested that, controlling for a range of other factors, mental health difficulties in Key Stage 3 were associated with lower attainment at GCSE. Pupils with previous atypical mental health scores were 2.7 times more likely to not achieve five A* to C grades than those measured in the normal range.

The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2021 survey published by NHS Digital shows that over half of children with special educational needs (SEN) have a probable mental health disorder (56.7%) compared to 12.5% of children with no identified SEN. Additionally, the 2022 follow up survey found that children and young people with a probable mental disorder are seven times as likely to have missed more than 15 days of school as those unlikely to have a mental disorder (12.6% and 3.9% respectively). The 2023 follow up survey also found that children aged 8 to 16 years with a probable mental disorder were more than twice as likely to live in a household that had fallen behind with rent, bills or mortgage (18.7%) than those unlikely to have a mental disorder (6.8%).

This is why the government has set a bold ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children in history, giving mental health the same attention as physical health. The government is reforming NHS services and has committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, removing barriers to opportunity and helping children to thrive.