Westminster Education Forum

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Next steps for child mental health in England and improving young people’s wellbeing

July 2022


Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF


This conference focused on support for the mental health of children and young people in England.


Delegates examined the impact of the pandemic, the effectiveness of the policy response, and what more could be done going forward.


We expected discussion to draw on issues raised in the CQC’s review of child mental health services, which highlighted the need to address increased demand, provide early intervention, and boost collaboration between service providers, local authorities and parents.


The conference also took place as:


  • the DHSC undertakes a call for evidence on its new 10-year plan to improve mental health
  •  the mental health training grant was announced by the DfE in 2021
  • the Times Education Commission publish their final report, which calls for wellbeing to be placed at the heart of education, and recommends an annual wellbeing survey of pupils to encourage schools to build up students’ resilience

Sessions in the agenda included:


  • priorities - improving child mental health provision and funding
  • improving provision - cross-sector collaboration - addressing silo working - meeting increased demand for services - improving access to holistic care - support for families and the workforce
  • quality and standards - and learning from best practice
  • issues linked with the pandemic - the online environment - eating disorders - remote consultation shortages - links between physical and mental health - support for vulnerable children
  • mental health in schools - identifying children most in need of support - addressing assessment anxiety - boosting catch-up programmes for vulnerable children - support for the workforce
  • policy - addressing key issues for children’s mental health and wellbeing in the future

We are pleased to have been able to include keynote sessions with: Victoria Vallance, Director of Secondary and Specialist Healthcare, Care Quality Commission; and Professor Lord Layard, Director, Wellbeing Programme, London School of Economics.


The conference was an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the issues alongside key policy officials who attended from the DHSC; and Ofsted.



This pack includes

  • Dropbox video recording of the conference
  • PDF transcript of the discussion, including all speaker remarks and Q&A
  • PDFs of speakers' slide material (subject to permission)
  • PDFs of the delegate pack, including speaker biographies and attendee list
  • PDFs of delegate articles