Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the services in schools for children who experience a bereavement; and if he will make a statement.

The Government has made no specific assessment of the services in schools for children who experience a bereavement. In 2017, the Department published a nationally representative survey of the mental health support provided in schools and colleges. This included a number of qualitative reports on different aspects of practice, including some guidance to schools on supporting children experiencing a bereavement. The reports can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-mental-health-in-schools-and-colleges.

This research informed the green paper, 'Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision' which was published in December 2017. In the green paper, the Department reiterated its commitment to update the 'Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools' advice. The updated advice will build on the key messages from Tom Bennett’s 2017 report 'Creating a Culture'. It will provide a source of information on how trauma and adverse childhood experiences such as bereavement can affect individual children, and how schools can adapt their approach to support these pupils; the updated advice will be published later this year. The full report can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools.