Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve children's mental health and well-being in schools in Shipley constituency.

This government is committed to improving mental health and wellbeing support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity and learning.

The right support should be available to every young person that needs it, which is why this government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. We will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) currently cover 44% of children and young people in schools and colleges across England. These MHSTs have three core functions: i) to deliver evidence-based early interventions for emerging and actual mental health issues, 1-1 and in groups, ii) to support a school or college’s mental health lead to embed an effective approach to promote and support mental health and wellbeing, and iii) to advise school and college staff, and liaise with external specialist services, to help pupils and learners to get the right timely support and stay in education.

Data specifically on how many schools and colleges in Shipley constituency work with an MHSTs is not currently available. As of April 2024, 28% of pupils and learners in Bradford local authority are in schools and colleges that work with an MHST, compared to 44% nationally: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision.

A resource hub for mental health leads and a targeted mental wellbeing support toolkit are available on the Mentally Healthy Schools platform. Data is available at a local authority level on the schools and colleges that have taken up the offer of the department’s funded mental health lead training grant. By the end of March 2024, 73% of schools and colleges in Bradford local authority had claimed a senior mental health leads training grant, compared to 74% nationally.