Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment has she made of the availability of bereavement services for (a) adults and (b) children and young people.

We strongly encourage anyone struggling with their bereavement, no matter how long after loss, to contact their general practitioner who can help provide support, signpost to specialist bereavement support charities, or make a referral to a counsellor.

In May, we updated GOV.UK’s Tell us Once service to give more prominence to webpages signposting to bereavement support.

To support children and young people in education settings to respond effectively, the Department for Education is offering a grant to all state schools and colleges in England to train a senior mental health lead who can put in place an effective approach to mental health and wellbeing in their setting. An integral part of this approach is ensuring there are robust processes for identifying students or specific groups, which may include bereaved pupils, who need additional mental health support.