Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of schools on the mental health of young people identifying as LGBTQ+.

The department has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of schools on the mental health of LGBTQ+ young people, but the department is aware that bullying in school can have a profound effect on a child’s mental health and collect regular information.

To support schools, the department is providing over £3 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups, such as those who are victims of hate related bullying and homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic based bullying.

The department is taking actions to tackle bullying as part of the commitment to ensuring schools are safe, supportive, inclusive environments where all pupils feel they belong. The department’s programme of senior mental health lead training is further supporting schools to promote the mental health and wellbeing of all pupils through effective whole-school approaches. This approach should include creating an environment that promotes respect and values diversity, having robust processes for identifying individuals or groups of pupils in need of further support, and ensuring all staff can recognise and understand how to respond to mental health concerns. The department has committed to offer all schools and colleges funding to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. Over 14,000 settings, including more than 7 in 10 state secondary schools, have taken up the offer so far.