Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools to reduce the incidence of suicide.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Where schools have immediate concerns about the risk of suicide, their safeguarding role is set out in our statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education. This emphasises that schools should have a designated senior lead, with responsibility for the handling of safeguarding concerns, in place. Where schools have immediate concerns about the risk of suicide, an immediate referral should be made to children’s social care.
Schools can also play an important role in identifying mental health issues early and ensuring that pupils get support to prevent problems from escalating. One in ten children has a diagnosable mental health disorder and the Government is committed to improving support for these young people. The Department for Education is taking action to tackle the stigma around mental health, promote positive wellbeing, and to ensure pupils have the support and knowledge that they need to keep themselves healthy and safe.
In order to support schools, the Department is publishing new guidance for both primary and secondary schools. This guidance is produced in conjunction with the Personal Social Health and Economic Education Association (PSHE). This will help them to provide age-appropriate teaching on a range of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and self-harm. We are also updating the Mental Health and Behaviour guidance for schools, first published in June 2014[1]. This is to ensure that current advice and guidance on supporting pupils mental health needs is reflected. The guidance helps schools to identify and support those with more severe needs and to make appropriate referrals to specialist mental health services. The ‘Future in Mind’ report, published on 17 March 2015[2], set out a clear set of ambitions for improving access to specialist mental health support for children and young people. Later this year we will be piloting joint training for points of contact in specialist mental health services and schools across 15 Clinical Commissioning Group areas; this will improve knowledge and referrals, so that pupils get the support they need more quickly.
Many schools already provide pupils with access to counselling services, providing children and young people with safe environments where they can discuss problems and receive support. The Department is publishing new guidance for primary and secondary schools on how to deliver good quality school-based counselling services to support their pupils.
The Department knows that children and young people who are persistently bullied are more likely to suffer from poor mental health and emotional wellbeing. It is for this reason that we have made tackling bullying in schools a top priority. All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying. Schools are held to account for their effectiveness by Ofsted.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2.
[2] www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-mental-health-services-for-young-people
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what they are doing to support those, in particular teenagers, who are self-harming or at risk of self-harming.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Spotting the signs of mental health problems early in children and young people is essential to prevent problems from escalating and continuing into adulthood.
On 25 March the Minister of State for Care and Support (Norman Lamb) launched MindEd, an interactive e-learning programme on mental health designed to help any adult working with children and young people. Funded by the department, the learning and resources provided by the MindEd e-portal are designed to extend the skills and knowledge of National Health Service clinicians and professionals such as teachers, social workers, counsellors and supervisors working in a range of educational and youth settings.
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) is there to support children of school age with mental health problems, including those who are found to be self-harming.
On 16 June 2014, the Department for Education issued advice for school staff on mental health and behaviour. This new advice links to existing advice on behaviour and discipline, which indicates that schools should consider whether continuing disruptive behaviour arises from unmet mental health needs.
The advice will help schools identify and support pupils with an unmet mental health condition. It will give teachers the confidence to:
differentiate between poor behaviour linked to potential mental health problems and poor behaviour which cannot be explained in this way;
identify those with less severe problems at an early stage and build their resilience through the school's pastoral system, using external agencies where necessary;
identify those with more severe mental health needs and make timely referrals to statutory and/or voluntary agencies, including CAMHS.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines make it clear that anyone who attends an emergency department for self-harm should be offered a comprehensive assessment of their physical, psychological and social needs. Self-harm has been identified as a priority for action in the Mental Health Action Plan, Closing the Gap: Priorities for essential change in mental health, published January 2014.A copy has already been placed in the Library.
Preventing suicide in England: A cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives was published on 10 September 2012. The suicide prevention strategy is backed by up to £1.5 million funding through the Policy Research Programme, to help us better understand key aspects of suicide and self-harm, including looking at self-harm in young people and the role of the internet and social media.