Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to mental health services in schools.

On 4 December 2017, the Government published the green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’, which set out our proposals for improving access to mental health services in schools supported by over £300 million of funding. The consultation on the green paper ends on 2 March 2018.

The proposals include the provision for new clinically-supervised Mental Health Support Teams based in or near schools. The teams will provide earlier intervention and treatments for those with mild or moderate needs and also offer a better link to specialist NHS services. The teams will work with Designated Senior Mental Health Leads in schools. In addition, the green paper proposals include a trial of a 4-week maximum wait for pupils to access specialist NHS services that will offer pupils with more serious conditions timely access to specialist support.