ASCL response to PAC report on mental health services for children

Commenting on the report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ‘Mental health services for children and young people’, Anna Cole,Parliamentary and Inclusion Specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“It is increasingly clear that poor and underfunded NHS mental health provision is failing our children and young people. We welcomed the vision set out in Future in Mind but government initiatives since then do not go far or fast enough.

“Schools and colleges are already doing a great deal to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people but their budgets are under severe pressure and this is making it increasingly difficult to provide sufficient school-based pastoral support.

“Schools need sufficient funding to provide children and young people with the school-based support that they need and this must be accompanied by timely access to local specialist child and adolescent mental health services for all children and young people who require a greater level of care – currently this is not happening.”