Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the adequacy of funding for education recovery from the covid-19 outbreak; and what (a) support and (b) resources he is providing to teachers and schools to assist with (i) recovery from the covid-19 outbreak and (ii) catch-up learning.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has announced significant investment of over £3 billion in education recovery funding to support children and young people to make up for education lost during the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes over £950 million worth of funding direct to schools and a significant expansion of our tutoring programmes.
The Department has supported the Oak National Academy, helping schools to provide high quality online lessons, including making resources available online throughout the summer holidays.
Alongside this, the Department provided additional targeted funding to support schools through the exceptional costs fund, the COVID-19 workforce fund, and additional support to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.
Through an investment of more than £400 million, the Department has provided internet access and over 1.35 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. We will continue to provide internet access for disadvantaged pupils whose face-to-face education is disrupted during the Autumn term.
In May 2021, the Department announced a further £17 million towards improving mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges. This is in addition to the £79 million announced in March 2021.
The Department continues to discuss education recovery across Government and in the context of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what catch-up funding will be made available to students in further education institutions beyond the 16 to 19 tuition fund.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
On 24 February 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a further investment of £102 million to extend the 16 to 19 tuition fund into the 2021/22 academic year. On 2 June 2021 we announced a further £222 million to extend the 16 to 19 tuition fund for an additional two years until the 2023/24 academic year.
The fund will have a continued focus on targeting additional tuition at young people who need the most support. Eligibility for the 16 to 19 tuition fund in the 2021/22 academic year is being broadened to include economic disadvantage, in addition to low prior attainment. Including these students allows providers to offer tuition to all disadvantaged students who have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, while still maintaining focus on low prior attainment.
To ensure that those with the least time left have the opportunity to progress, the government is also giving providers of 16 to 19 education the option to offer students in year 13, or equivalent, the opportunity to repeat up to one more year if they have been particularly severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. While we expect most students will continue to progress to a suitable destination (such as higher education or into employment), this option will ensure that those who have been most severely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak have sufficient options to complete their education.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to support SEND pupils with (a) educational skills catch-up and (b) health and wellbeing needs due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this government. We are committed to helping all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in all education settings, make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Since June 2020, we have announced more than £3 billion of additional funding to support education recovery in schools, colleges and early years settings – this will have a material impact in closing gaps that have emerged. Schools will continue to be able to access a package of support from September 2021. The package provides support to children aged 2-19 in schools, 16-19 providers and early years. It expands our reforms in two areas where the evidence is clear that our investment will have significant impact: high quality tutoring targeted at those that need it most and high-quality training for teachers. The one-off Recovery Premium for state-funded schools for 2021/22 will further help schools to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a boost to academic and pastoral support. This is in addition to the £650 million catch-up premium shared across state-funded schools over the 2020/21 academic year, to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. While education settings cannot provide specialist clinical care, the support schools and colleges are providing to their pupils following the return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting mental health and wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting recovery.
We have consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings by providing additional uplifts both in the Catch-up Premium this academic year and the Recovery Premium for the next academic year, in recognition of the significantly higher per pupil costs they face. In addition, special schools will receive additional funding to ensure these settings can provide 1:1 tutoring for their pupils. Children will further benefit from additional funding to ensure that teachers in schools and early years settings are able to access high quality training and professional development. We know that high quality teaching is the best way to support all students, including those with SEND.
We are working with education settings, the relevant Royal Colleges and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to ensure that health and wellbeing issues for SEND pupils are prioritised. DHSC have identified provision for children and young people with SEND in their NHS recovery planning. The COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan, published in March 2021, references various areas of support. £31 million will be used to address particular challenges faced by individuals, including £3 million for community respite services.
The Department for Education’s Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children, has been expanded to every local authority across England this year – backed by up to £220 million. Our guidance is clear that the provision should be inclusive and accessible. We will continue to support local authorities to deliver services that meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. Education, health and care plan quality and timeliness is something we have been monitoring through the COVID-19 outbreak and continue to do so, and we provided £40.8 million for the Family Fund in 2020-21 to support over 90,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses. This included £13.5 million to specifically respond to needs arising from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is planning to take over summer 2021 to help young people in receipt of statutory services to re-engage with those services as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department has ensured that children's social care services have continued to operate throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.
The department’s regional improvement teams are working with local authorities who are experiencing challenges in providing statutory social care services to children. Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have restarted their inspection and revisit activity, which once again allows us to monitor and hold local areas to account for quality of services. We established a vulnerable children and young people survey of local authorities and have been reviewing data to give insight into the ongoing delivery of children’s social care services.
We are continuing to support local authorities to deliver services that meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Education, health and care plan quality and timeliness is something we have been monitoring through the COVID-19 outbreak and continue to do so. The NHS COVID-19 recovery plan includes measures that will support the recovery of health services for children with SEND and additional funding for respite services of £3 million. The published COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/973936/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-recovery-action-plan.pdf) also references various areas of support for children, including £31 million to be used to address particular challenges faced by individuals with a learning disability.
Therapeutic, speech and language services for children with SEND have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The department are working urgently with education settings, the relevant Royal Colleges, and the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that these issues are tackled. We have taken steps to remind schools and colleges that they should allow access to therapists and health professionals, and of their ability to use recovery and catch-up funding to secure further therapies within school.
We continue to provide support to families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses. We provided £40.8 million for the Family Fund in financial year 2020-21 to support over 90,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses. This included £13.5 million to specifically respond to needs arising from the COVID-19 outbreak. This financial year a total of £27.3 million is available.
Beyond the support for children and young people in receipt of statutory services for children's social care and those with SEND, we are working across government to ensure that wider, targeted services are also available. NHS mental health services have remained open throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and have deployed digital tools to enable them to connect with people and provide ongoing support. All NHS mental health trusts have provided 24/7 open access telephone lines (https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-immediate-establishment-of-24-7-urgent-nhs-mental-health-telephone-support-advice-and-triage/) to support people of all ages, and other health services for children and families have continued to operate.
Additionally, we are ensuring that other key services such as early help, youth services and the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme are protected and there for children and young people who need them. We have asked social workers to make sure that children and young people known to children's social care are encouraged to make use of the HAF programme. The programme provides disadvantaged children across the country with enriching activities whilst supporting them to be healthy and active. I have written to all special and alternative provision schools to encourage them to offer Department for Education-funded summer school provision for their pupils and signposted them to HAF provision in their local areas where relevant.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that there is equality for disabled children and their non-disabled peers in their recovery from the effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Our ambition is for every child and young person, no matter what challenges they face, to have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life. We want pupils and students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those in specialist settings, to continue to receive high-quality teaching and specialist professional support. We know that these pupils and students and their families can be disproportionately impacted by having been out of education, and we are committed to helping all pupils and students, including those with SEND, to make up learning lost because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The government will continue to focus on education recovery and making sure no child is left behind with their learning, with over £3 billion announced for catch up so far. We have consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings by providing additional uplifts both in the 2020 catch-up premium and in the 2021 Recovery Premium, in recognition of the significantly higher per pupil costs they face.
Special schools will receive additional funding to ensure these settings can provide one-to-one tutoring for their pupils. We will also provide greater flexibility to schools to make it easier for them to take on local tutors or use existing staff to supplement those employed through the existing National Tutoring Programme. We anticipate that this will particularly benefit children and young people with SEND, where tutors familiar to these children can support them to realise the benefits of tuition.
Children will further benefit from additional funding to ensure that teachers in schools and early years settings are able to access high quality training and professional development. We know that high quality teaching is the best way to support all students, including those with SEND.
Young people with SEND aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan will be eligible for support via the 16 to 19 tuition fund, where they meet the fund criteria.
As part of the major investment in education, an additional £730 million is being provided for high needs this year, coming on top of an extra £780 million last year, which means high needs budgets will have grown by over £1.5 billion, nearly a quarter, in just two years.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support pupils missing additional days at school as a result of the rise in rates of covid-19 infection.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s priority is for schools to deliver face-to-face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.
The Department for Education has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to revise guidance for schools from Step 4, available to view here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999602/Schools_guidance_Step_4_update.pdf. The aim is to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 whilst moving to a ‘steady state’ that minimises both the burden of implementing a system of controls on staff and parents and the impact those measures have on young people’s educational experience.
The Department will be removing the need to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’) in schools, colleges, and out-of-school settings, and the need to reduce mixing in nurseries from Step 4.
Face coverings will no longer be recommended in schools or on dedicated school transport. Individuals are free to wear a face covering in communal areas and on dedicated transport to school, where social distancing is difficult to maintain, if they wish to.
Twice weekly home testing will continue to be offered over the summer break in settings that remain open (e.g., nurseries, summer schools and colleges). On return in the autumn, asymptomatic testing is expected to resume for staff and for students of secondary age and above. Schools and colleges are preparing to offer students two lateral flow device tests at an on-site Asymptomatic Test Site, 3 to 5 days apart. Following the first two on-site tests, students should then prepare to resume twice weekly testing at home. New guidance emphasises that it is vital that staff and secondary school and college students continue to test for the last few weeks of this term, and throughout September.
From Step 4, schools and childcare settings will not routinely be required to undertake contact tracing. Instead, pupils who test positive will be subject to the normal test and trace process, which will identify close contacts. Unless they test positive, children and those who are fully vaccinated will not be required to isolate from 16 August, if they are identified as a close contact. Self-isolation continues for those who have tested positive for COVID-19.
In areas where there is a high prevalence of the Delta variant, the Department is increasing the availability of testing for staff, pupils, and families. We are also working with directors of public health to reduce local transmission. On 8 June, the Government announced an enhanced support package for any areas affected by local outbreaks. The package includes specialist Rapid Response Teams, surge testing and enhanced contact tracing, military support, specialist communication, supervised in-school testing, and discretion to reintroduce face coverings in communal areas in schools if directors of public health decide it is appropriate. Further information on responding to individual or regional outbreaks can be found in the contingency framework for education and childcare: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department has acted swiftly to help minimise the impact on pupils’ education and provide extensive support for schools. We know the COVID-19 outbreak has caused challenges for some children who may already have been disengaged from education. That is why the Department is working closely with local authorities and schools to help them re-engage pupils, including providing best practice advice. In June 2020, the Department announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a National Tutoring Programme and a catch-up premium for this academic year. In February 2021, the Department committed to further funding of £700 million to fund summer schools, the expansion of tutoring programmes and a Recovery Premium for the next academic year.
Where pupils are away from school for a limited period, for example because they are self-isolating, schools have a legal duty to provide remote education. To provide clarity to the sector, the Department issued the temporary continuity direction in October 2020 which places an express legal duty on schools to provide remote education for state-funded, school-age children unable to attend school due to COVID-19.
Where remote education is needed, the strengthened remote education expectations published on 7 January 2021 remain in place. These require schools to deliver 3 to 5 hours per day dependent on key stage and have a system in place for checking on a daily basis whether pupils are engaging actively with their work and education.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that pupils engage with the covid-19 testing regime.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s priority is for schools to deliver face-to-face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.
The Department for Education has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to revise guidance for schools from Step 4, available to view here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999602/Schools_guidance_Step_4_update.pdf. The aim is to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 whilst moving to a ‘steady state’ that minimises both the burden of implementing a system of controls on staff and parents and the impact those measures have on young people’s educational experience.
The Department will be removing the need to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’) in schools, colleges, and out-of-school settings, and the need to reduce mixing in nurseries from Step 4.
Face coverings will no longer be recommended in schools or on dedicated school transport. Individuals are free to wear a face covering in communal areas and on dedicated transport to school, where social distancing is difficult to maintain, if they wish to.
Twice weekly home testing will continue to be offered over the summer break in settings that remain open (e.g., nurseries, summer schools and colleges). On return in the autumn, asymptomatic testing is expected to resume for staff and for students of secondary age and above. Schools and colleges are preparing to offer students two lateral flow device tests at an on-site Asymptomatic Test Site, 3 to 5 days apart. Following the first two on-site tests, students should then prepare to resume twice weekly testing at home. New guidance emphasises that it is vital that staff and secondary school and college students continue to test for the last few weeks of this term, and throughout September.
From Step 4, schools and childcare settings will not routinely be required to undertake contact tracing. Instead, pupils who test positive will be subject to the normal test and trace process, which will identify close contacts. Unless they test positive, children and those who are fully vaccinated will not be required to isolate from 16 August, if they are identified as a close contact. Self-isolation continues for those who have tested positive for COVID-19.
In areas where there is a high prevalence of the Delta variant, the Department is increasing the availability of testing for staff, pupils, and families. We are also working with directors of public health to reduce local transmission. On 8 June, the Government announced an enhanced support package for any areas affected by local outbreaks. The package includes specialist Rapid Response Teams, surge testing and enhanced contact tracing, military support, specialist communication, supervised in-school testing, and discretion to reintroduce face coverings in communal areas in schools if directors of public health decide it is appropriate. Further information on responding to individual or regional outbreaks can be found in the contingency framework for education and childcare: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department has acted swiftly to help minimise the impact on pupils’ education and provide extensive support for schools. We know the COVID-19 outbreak has caused challenges for some children who may already have been disengaged from education. That is why the Department is working closely with local authorities and schools to help them re-engage pupils, including providing best practice advice. In June 2020, the Department announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a National Tutoring Programme and a catch-up premium for this academic year. In February 2021, the Department committed to further funding of £700 million to fund summer schools, the expansion of tutoring programmes and a Recovery Premium for the next academic year.
Where pupils are away from school for a limited period, for example because they are self-isolating, schools have a legal duty to provide remote education. To provide clarity to the sector, the Department issued the temporary continuity direction in October 2020 which places an express legal duty on schools to provide remote education for state-funded, school-age children unable to attend school due to COVID-19.
Where remote education is needed, the strengthened remote education expectations published on 7 January 2021 remain in place. These require schools to deliver 3 to 5 hours per day dependent on key stage and have a system in place for checking on a daily basis whether pupils are engaging actively with their work and education.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice he is providing to schools in response to the rising level of covid-19 infection.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s priority is for schools to deliver face-to-face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.
The Department for Education has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to revise guidance for schools from Step 4, available to view here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999602/Schools_guidance_Step_4_update.pdf. The aim is to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 whilst moving to a ‘steady state’ that minimises both the burden of implementing a system of controls on staff and parents and the impact those measures have on young people’s educational experience.
The Department will be removing the need to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’) in schools, colleges, and out-of-school settings, and the need to reduce mixing in nurseries from Step 4.
Face coverings will no longer be recommended in schools or on dedicated school transport. Individuals are free to wear a face covering in communal areas and on dedicated transport to school, where social distancing is difficult to maintain, if they wish to.
Twice weekly home testing will continue to be offered over the summer break in settings that remain open (e.g., nurseries, summer schools and colleges). On return in the autumn, asymptomatic testing is expected to resume for staff and for students of secondary age and above. Schools and colleges are preparing to offer students two lateral flow device tests at an on-site Asymptomatic Test Site, 3 to 5 days apart. Following the first two on-site tests, students should then prepare to resume twice weekly testing at home. New guidance emphasises that it is vital that staff and secondary school and college students continue to test for the last few weeks of this term, and throughout September.
From Step 4, schools and childcare settings will not routinely be required to undertake contact tracing. Instead, pupils who test positive will be subject to the normal test and trace process, which will identify close contacts. Unless they test positive, children and those who are fully vaccinated will not be required to isolate from 16 August, if they are identified as a close contact. Self-isolation continues for those who have tested positive for COVID-19.
In areas where there is a high prevalence of the Delta variant, the Department is increasing the availability of testing for staff, pupils, and families. We are also working with directors of public health to reduce local transmission. On 8 June, the Government announced an enhanced support package for any areas affected by local outbreaks. The package includes specialist Rapid Response Teams, surge testing and enhanced contact tracing, military support, specialist communication, supervised in-school testing, and discretion to reintroduce face coverings in communal areas in schools if directors of public health decide it is appropriate. Further information on responding to individual or regional outbreaks can be found in the contingency framework for education and childcare: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department has acted swiftly to help minimise the impact on pupils’ education and provide extensive support for schools. We know the COVID-19 outbreak has caused challenges for some children who may already have been disengaged from education. That is why the Department is working closely with local authorities and schools to help them re-engage pupils, including providing best practice advice. In June 2020, the Department announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a National Tutoring Programme and a catch-up premium for this academic year. In February 2021, the Department committed to further funding of £700 million to fund summer schools, the expansion of tutoring programmes and a Recovery Premium for the next academic year.
Where pupils are away from school for a limited period, for example because they are self-isolating, schools have a legal duty to provide remote education. To provide clarity to the sector, the Department issued the temporary continuity direction in October 2020 which places an express legal duty on schools to provide remote education for state-funded, school-age children unable to attend school due to COVID-19.
Where remote education is needed, the strengthened remote education expectations published on 7 January 2021 remain in place. These require schools to deliver 3 to 5 hours per day dependent on key stage and have a system in place for checking on a daily basis whether pupils are engaging actively with their work and education.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide additional support to children and young people whose mental health may have deteriorated during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this government. While education settings cannot provide specialist clinical care, the support schools and colleges are providing to their pupils following the return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting mental health and wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting recovery. We want schools to have the freedom to decide what wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice.
We are supporting recovery action with significant additional funding. In June 2021, we announced £1.4 billion of additional funding for education recovery. This is in addition to the £1.7 billion already committed, bringing total investment announced for education recovery over the past year to over £3 billion. The package provides support to children aged 2 to 19 in schools, 16 to 19 providers and early years. It will expand our reforms in two areas where the evidence is clear our investment will have significant impact: high quality tutoring targeted at those that need it most and high-quality training for teachers. The one-off Recovery Premium for state-funded schools will help schools to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a boost to the support, both academic and pastoral, that has proven most effective in helping them recover from the impact of COVID-19. This is in addition to the £650 million catch-up premium shared across state-funded schools over the 2020/21 academic year, which is also supporting education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. The Education Endowment Foundation have published a COVID-19 support guide to support schools, which includes further information about interventions to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing.
Our Mental Health in Education Action Group has been looking further at what more can to be done to help education settings support mental wellbeing as part of recovery. The department recently brought together all its sources of advice for schools and colleges into a single site, which includes signposting to external sources of mental health and wellbeing support for teachers, school staff and school leaders: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges#mental-health-and-wellbeing-resources. As education and health are devolved matters, these are relevant to the policy context in England, but materials may be more widely useful across the UK. The site also includes guidance to support relationships, sex and health education curriculum planning, covering of the key issues children and young people have been concerned about throughout the COVID-19 outbreak: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.
On 10 May, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we announced more than £17 million of mental health funding to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges. This includes £9.5 million for up to 7,800 schools to train a senior mental health lead in the next academic year, and £7 million in additional funding for local authorities to deliver the Wellbeing for Education Recovery programme. This builds on Wellbeing for Education Return in the 2020/21 academic year, which reached up to 15,000 schools across every local authority with free expert training, support and resources for staff dealing with children and young people experiencing additional pressures from the last year, including trauma, anxiety, or grief.
For further education, the College Collaboration Fund (CCF), a £5.4 million national programme of competitive grant funding delivered in the 2020/21 financial year, is helping to support learner and staff mental health and wellbeing through online programmes and remote support. One of the funded projects was Weston College’s ‘Let’s Chat’ programme, which delivered a number of wellbeing support packages accessible at any time to keep staff, students and their families safe and well during lockdown. We are now assessing bids for the CCF 2 for the 2021/22 financial year.
With regards to higher education (HE), student mental health and suicide prevention are key priorities for this government. We continue to work closely with the HE sector to promote good practice. Universities are not only experts in their student population, but also best placed to identify the needs of their student body. The Department for Health and Social Care has overall policy responsibility for young people’s mental health. We continue to work closely with them to take steps to develop mental health and wellbeing support.
We have also increased funding to specialist services. In March, we announced a £79 million boost to children and young people’s mental health support, which will include increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams. The support teams, which provide early intervention on mental health and emotional wellbeing issues in schools and colleges, will grow from the 59 set up by last March to around 400 by April 2023, supporting nearly 3 million children. This increase means that millions of children and young people will have access to significantly expanded mental health services. In total, £13 million will be used to accelerate progress to support young adults aged 18 to 25. This group includes university students and those not in education or training, who have reported the worst mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak, and who sometimes fall through the gap between children and adult services.
While it is for HE providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support, the government is proactive in promoting good practice in this area. We continue to work closely with Universities UK on embedding the Stepchange programme within the sector. Stepchange calls on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and to take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula, and practice. The Stepchange programme relaunched in March 2020 as the Mentally Healthy Universities programme. Further information on the programme is available here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/stepchange.
The University Mental Health Charter, announced in June 2018, is backed by the government and led by the HE sector. The charter, developed in collaboration with students, staff and partner organisations, aims to drive up standards of practice, including leadership, early intervention, and data collection. Further information on the charter is available here: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/charter.html.
The department has also worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to provide Student Space, a dedicated mental health and wellbeing platform for students. Student Space has been funded by up to £3 million from the OfS in the 2020/21 academic year. We have asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in 2021/22 through proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities grant funding, to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable and hard to reach groups.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to invest in improving the mental health of (a) primary school pupils, (b) secondary school pupils and (c) 18-25 year olds in further or higher education.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this government. While education settings cannot provide specialist clinical care, the support that schools and colleges are providing to their pupils, following the return to face-to-face education, should include time devoted to supporting mental health and wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting recovery. We want schools to have the freedom to decide which wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice.
We are supporting recovery action with significant additional funding. In June 2021, we announced £1.4 billion of additional funding for education recovery. This is in addition to the £1.7 billion already committed, bringing total investment announced for education recovery over the past year to over £3 billion. The package provides support to children aged 2 to 19 in schools, 16-19 providers and early years. It will expand our reforms in 2 areas where the evidence is clear that our investment will have significant impact: high-quality tutoring targeted at those that need it most and high-quality training for teachers.
The one-off Recovery Premium for state-funded schools will help schools to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a boost to the support, both academic and pastoral, that has been proved most effective in helping them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. This is in addition to the £650 million catch-up premium shared across state-funded schools over the 2020 to 2021 academic year, which is also supporting education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. The Education Endowment Foundation have published a COVID-19 support guide to support schools, which includes further information about interventions to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/eef-support-for-schools/covid-19-resources/national-tutoring-programme/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/.
Our Mental Health in Education Action Group has been looking further at what more can be done to help education settings support mental wellbeing as part of recovery. The department has recently brought together all its sources of advice for schools and colleges into a single site, which includes signposting to external sources of mental health and wellbeing support for teachers, school staff and school leaders: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges#mental-health-and-wellbeing-resources. It also includes guidance to support relationships, sex and health education curriculum planning, covering the key issues children and young people have been concerned about throughout the COVID-19 outbreak: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.
On 10 May, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we announced more than £17 million of mental health funding to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges. This includes £9.5 million for up to 7,800 schools to train a senior mental health lead in the next academic year, and £7 million in additional funding for local authorities to deliver the Wellbeing for Education Recovery programme. This builds on Wellbeing for Education Return in the 2020/21 academic year, which offered schools in every local authority and reached up to 15,000 schools with free expert training, support and resources for staff dealing with children and young people experiencing additional pressures from the last year, including trauma, anxiety, or grief.
For further education, the College Collaboration Fund (CCF), a £5.4 million national programme of competitive grant funding delivered in the 2020/21 financial year, is helping to support learner and staff mental health and wellbeing through online programmes and remote support. One of the funded projects was Weston College’s ‘Let’s Chat’ programme, which delivered a number of wellbeing support packages accessible at any time to keep staff, students and their families safe and well during lockdown. We are now assessing bids for the CCF 2 for the 2021/22 financial year.
With regards to higher education, student mental health and suicide prevention are key priorities for this government. We continue to work closely with the HE sector to promote good practice. Universities are not only experts in their student population, but also best placed to identify the needs of their student body. The Department of Health and Social Care has overall policy responsibility for young people’s mental health. We continue to work closely with them to take steps to develop mental health and wellbeing support.
We have also increased funding to specialist services. In March, we announced a £79 million boost to children and young people’s mental health support, which will include increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams. The support teams - which provide early intervention on mental health and emotional wellbeing issues in schools and colleges - will grow from the 59 set up by last March to around 400 by April 2023, supporting nearly 3 million children. This increase means that millions of children and young people will have access to significantly expanded mental health services. In total, £13 million will be used to accelerate progress to support young adults aged 18 to 25. This group includes university students and those not in education or training, who have reported the worst mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak, and who sometimes fall through the gap between children and adult services.
While it is for HE providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support, the government is proactive in promoting good practice in this area. We continue to work closely with Universities UK on embedding the Stepchange programme within the sector. Stepchange calls on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and to take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula, and practice. The Stepchange programme relaunched in March 2020 as the Mentally Healthy Universities programme. Further information on the programme is available here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/stepchange.
The University Mental Health Charter, announced in June 2018, is backed by the government and led by the HE sector. The Charter, developed in collaboration with students, staff and partner organisations, aims to drive up standards of practice, including leadership, early intervention, and data collection. Further information on the Charter is available here: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/charter.html.
The department has also worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to provide Student Space, a dedicated mental health and wellbeing platform for students. Student Space has been funded by up to £3 million from the OfS in the 2020/21 academic year. We have asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in the 2021/22 academic year through proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities grant funding, to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable and hard to reach groups.