Mr (Secretary of State for
Health): Together with my Right Honourable friend,
, Secretary of State for
Education, we have today laid before Parliament “Transforming
Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green
Paper” (Cm9523). The Green Paper forms part of the Government’s
work to transform mental health support, ending what the Prime
Minister has referred to as the “burning injustice” of inequality
which those with mental health problems experience.
This Government has invested more than ever before in mental
health services, and legislated for ‘parity of esteem’, to ensure
that mental health is treated equally with physical health.
Schools and colleges are already doing a great deal to support
the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Most offer training to staff and many promote mental health and
wellbeing through skills development sessions and taught sessions
about particular mental health issues. Around half have a mental
health lead.
However, there is more we need to do to create world-class
support for children and young people’s mental health. Half of
all mental health conditions begin before the age of 14. The
Green Paper therefore focuses on earlier intervention and
prevention before issues escalate, particularly in and around
schools and colleges.
We are announcing plans to fund new collaboratively delivered
Mental Health Support Teams. They will be made up of additional
trained staff, supervised by NHS specialists, to provide support
in or near schools and colleges for children and young people
with emerging and more moderate needs, We will test how teams can
work with other professionals and support vulnerable children and
young people. We also want to continue to improve access to
specialist services, and will pilot a four week waiting time
standard for accessing children’s mental health services.
We will also build on what schools already do – rolling out our
“schools – children and young people’s mental health services
link pilot” nationally. We will provide significant funding to
incentivise schools and colleges to train designated senior leads
for mental health to work with the new teams and implement
whole-school approaches to mental health. The Green Paper also
sets out how whole-school approaches will be supported by other
developments that are underway, including our engagement process
on Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education.
The Green Paper also contains a number of other proposals to
improve support for young people’s mental health, including work
to support the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s
work on keeping young people safe online, convening a new
partnership to look at support for the mental health of 16-25
year olds, and commissioning further research in a number of
areas to build our understanding of the evidence.
The Green Paper has been developed with the input of a large
range of individuals and organisations. We also commissioned an
independent evidence review, conducted by University College
London and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health,
and have based our proposals on the evidence. We also benefited
from the evidence submitted to the Health and Education Select
Committees during their inquiry earlier this year into the role
of education in children’s mental health. We are grateful to all
who have helped shape our proposals.
The proposals as set out in the Green Paper would cost £215m over
the next three years towards the creation of Mental Health
Support Teams, piloting a four week waiting time standard and
rolling out mental health first aid training to primary schools.
Funding will be made available to take forward the final
proposals following consultation. We will confirm the amounts to
be provided to schools and colleges for training leads following
consultation and development of training packages. However we
will cover the costs of a significant training programme and
provide up to £15-20m each year from 2019 to cover costs until
all schools and colleges have had the chance to train a lead.
The Green Paper will be followed by a consultation and we welcome
views on the proposals. Copies of the Green Paper will be
available in the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office. The
consultation and Green Paper can be accessed at www.gov.uk and
https://engage.dh.gov.uk/youngmentalhealth/
