To ask the Minister of Education whether his Department has considered sourcing alternative funding streams to continue the provision of therapy to children in primary schools, given the growing concern in relation to children’s mental health.

My officials continue to work alongside colleagues from the Department of Health with the continued investment of over £5m per annum to support programmes identified under the joint Emotional Health and Wellbeing in Education Framework.

It is important to note that while our schools are encouraged to provide a supportive and nurturing environment, the provision of mental health and therapeutic services for children, including those or primary school age, is ultimately within the remit of the health service and should be delivered by appropriately qualified and registered health professionals (i.e. counsellors and therapists).

Given the challenging financial context across both the health and education systems, I welcome the re-establishment of the ‘Executive Working Group on Mental Wellbeing, Resilience and Suicide Prevention’ as I believe that this will provide an opportunity to discuss the continuum of provision for mental health and therapeutic services, and the funding of the same, with Ministerial colleagues.

At the same time, schools continue to have flexibility to use their individual budgets to best meet the identified needs of their pupils and in some circumstances they may employ the services of a counsellor or therapist from existing funds. It is important to stress however, that where a school has any immediate concerns for a primary age child, referral continues to be available through health services, including CAMHS and associated pathways in conjunction with other support services.