House of Commons Education Committee – Published on 27 September 2023
More pupils have experienced mental health challenges since the pandemic, and this has had a negative impact on their school attendance. The Department should lead a crossgovernment assessment of the scale of mental-health difficulties. Pupils are struggling to access support for mental health, via the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), due to extremely long waiting lists. The current capacity of mental health services to support pupils is clearly grossly inadequate, and the Department must review the current provision of support available. The Department should as a minimum, resource any required funding needed to ensure it reaches its aim of providing senior mental health lead training for every 11+ educational setting in England, by 2025. The Department should work with the Department for Health and Social Care to report the findings of its review on the scale of mental health challenges and the support available, by summer 2024.
Read the Report – Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils
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