Written question asked by Bob Russell (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 27 July 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 6 September 2010. It was answered by Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 19 October 2010 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Schools: Counselling

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will encourage secondary schools to appoint counsellors for pupils recommended by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Answer: When health and local authority commissioners are planning services to meet the mental health needs of children and young people locally they will want to consider the right way to engage with schools so as to get the best possible services to children and families. Schools are also able to use their own budgets to provide services to meet the needs of pupils, including services to support pupils' emotional well-being and mental health.The national Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) programme was developed to test the effectiveness of evidence-based mental health support in schools for those children, young people and their families who need it. Schools delivering TaMHS commission a range of services procured from voluntary and charitable (as well as statutory) organisations to meet the particular needs of their pupils, including counselling support for children struggling to cope following family breakdown or bereavement. The learning from TaMHS on effective commissioning of emotional well-being and mental health support and joint working with CAMHS is being shared across schools this year.While programmes such as TaMHS have been testing what works in developing school-based mental health support, any decision about whether to commission these services remains at the school's discretion.

Secondary information