Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the (i) name of each local authority in receipt of monies for the Wellbeing for Education Recovery Grant, (b) amount of money granted to each of those authorities in 2021-2022, (b) number of children of school age resident in the area of each of those authorities and (c) amount of money per school age child that grant represents for each of those authorities.

In May 2021, the government provided £7 million in Wellbeing for Education Recovery grants to local authorities, to further help to support education staff in local schools and colleges to promote and support the wellbeing and mental health of pupils and students during recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. This built on the £8 million support provided in the 2020-21 financial year under the Wellbeing for Education Return scheme.

A grant determination letter for 2021-22 was published on 10 June 2021, confirming the funding allocations for all local authorities in receipt of the grant. The funding allocations were based on the number of state-funded settings per upper tier local authority. The grant determination letter for 2021-22 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wellbeing-for-education-return-grant-s31-grant-determination-letter.

Wellbeing for Education Recovery grants are intended to be spent in the 2021-22 financial year by local authorities on:

• helping local schools and colleges to navigate existing provision and available support for wellbeing and mental health
• continuing to deliver or expand previous Wellbeing for Education Return training for education staff
• providing ongoing support and advice for schools and colleges that need it
• supporting schools and colleges to plan for, conduct or refresh local assessments of current and anticipated needs for mental health or wellbeing support.

The grants are not intended to be spent on interventions with children and young people, and consequently, providing a breakdown of funding on a per child basis would not be meaningful in this context and cannot be provided.