Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of mental health staff that will be placed in schools; and what assessment he has made of the level of qualification that will be required by those staff members; and how those staff members will be funded.

We are working closely with local commissioners to deliver mental health support teams in schools in England so they cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30. NHSE have estimated that around 2,400 Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP) are placed throughout the 600 current operational Mental Health Support Teams. Actual numbers will vary slightly at a local level, according to need. The average coverage of schools per team can change from year to year and an extensive independent evaluation is due to publish in 2026 that will inform future roll-out.

EMHP undertake a year-long training course to qualify. They can train for a postgraduate or graduate diploma, depending on whether they already have a degree qualification.

Annual National Health Service day-to-day spending will increase by £29 billion in real terms, via a £53 billion cash uplift, by 2028/29, compared to 2023/24. This will take the NHS resource budget to £226 billion by 2028/29, the equivalent to a 3% average annual real terms growth rate over the Spending Review period.

In the Spending Review announcement, we have confirmed that we will fulfil the Government’s commitments to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health staff by the end of the Parliament.