Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional mental health support will be made available to school age children over the summer 2021 holidays in response to the mental effects of the covid-19 outbreak and lost schooling.

We know that the mental health and wellbeing of young people has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and that being back in school and college plays a central role in promoting wellbeing for pupils. That is why we worked so hard to ensure that schools were first to reopen in March 2021.

The education recovery package and additional funding supports schools to provide pastoral care and extracurricular activities. This includes the £200 million we have put into summer schools, which will give secondary pupils access to enrichment activities, such as games, music, drama and sports that they have missed out on over the COVID-19 outbreak. The department published guidance to schools on summer schools on 30 March 2021; when planning a summer school, schools are encouraged to create an environment that supports pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, and to be particularly aware and supportive of the greater mental health and wellbeing needs of vulnerable children.

We are also investing up to £220 million in our Holiday Activities and Food programme, which has now been expanded across England. The programme provides children with opportunities to be active, eat healthily and enjoy engaging activities which support the development of resilience, character and wellbeing along with their wider educational attainment.

Furthermore, the Education Endowment Foundation have published a COVID-19 support guide to support schools, which includes further information about interventions to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing.

The Department’s Mental Health in Education Action Group, led by myself and my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities, has been looking further at what more can to be done to help education settings support mental wellbeing as part of recovery. The department has recently brought together all its sources of advice for schools and colleges into a single site, which includes signposting to external sources of mental health and wellbeing support for teachers, school staff, school leaders and children and young people: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges#mental-health-and-wellbeing-resources.

In addition, Public Health England has provided advice and guidance for parents and professionals on looking after children and young people's mental wellbeing, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing/guidance-for-parents-and-carers-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

It has adapted its Every Mind Matters and Rise Above platforms in the context of the outbreak, and launched new e-learning to help parents and carers, front line workers and volunteers support children and young people in emergency or crisis situations.

We are also investing around an additional £500 million into mental health support in 2021/22, with £79 million additional funding that will be used to significantly expand children’s and young people’s mental health services including accelerating the coverage of mental health support teams providing early support in schools and colleges. £15 million is to be invested in local authority areas in the most deprived parts of the country to help stimulate and boost prevention and early intervention services to support those hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, including families, children and young people, and ethnic minority groups.

For all those in need of immediate or specialist support, NHS mental health services remain open and have deployed digital tools to enable them to connect with people and provide ongoing support throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. All NHS Mental Health Trusts continue to provide 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages.

The government has also provided over £10 million funding to mental health charities – including Mind, the Samaritans, Young Minds, and Bipolar UK to help them adapt, expand, and reach those who are most vulnerable.