Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the work undertaken by the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust on mental health in schools.

The department is supportive of the work that the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust does to raise the profile of depression and mental health issues in children and young people and to encourage discussion of the subject. Officials from the department have met members of the trust and the Charlie Waller Institute on several occasions to discuss the support they offer and the training they have developed for schools, supported by funding from Health Education England.

Both organisations have been involved in stakeholder events to discuss mental health policy; they were also invited to attend the consultation events for the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper. The department will continue to engage with the Charlie Walker Memorial Trust as the green paper proposals are reviewed, and as the support that can be offered to schools for delivering the new requirement to teach all pupils about mental health is being considered.