Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to include mental wellbeing in the national curriculum.

We have no plans to make changes to the national curriculum, but our Supporting Mental Health in Schools and Colleges survey, published in August 2017, sets out information on what schools are already doing to promote good mental health and well-being through teaching and pastoral support.

We are considering how we can build on this strong base to improve the support that is provided to children and young people in schools and will include proposals in the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper to be published by the end of this year.

In particular, as required by the Children and Social Work Act 2017, we are taking work forward to develop regulations and associate guidance for mandatory Relationships Education in primary schools and Relationships and Sex Education in secondary schools. The content of the guidance will include the role of physical and mental well-being in forming and maintaining healthy relationships. We plan to consult on a draft of the regulations and guidance next year.