Education written question – answered at on 15 April 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will set out the arrangements in his Department for developing policy and providing advice to Ministers on children and young people's mental health, including the number of staff and their responsibilities, the directorate those staff are part of and when these arrangements were last reviewed and changed.
Policy on children and young people's mental health services is the responsibility of the Department of Health, which published the wider Government strategy, 'No Health Without Mental Health' in February 2011. In summer 2011 the overview of mental health policies in the Department for Education transferred to the special educational needs and disability division, to help to secure alignment with the reforms set out in the 'Support and Aspiration' Green Paper.
However, a wide range of Departmental policies have elements which are relevant to mental health issues and aspects of the wider Government strategy, therefore a range of officials advise Ministers, drawing on support from Department of Health. The Department is currently restructuring to make better use of flexible deployment in policy work, allowing staff to develop expertise across broader policy areas and allow resource to be focused on specific priorities.
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