Lib Dems pledge for more school mental health workers

The Liberal Democrats have said they would increase taxes on major companies to fund mental health professionals for all England's state schools, if they win the general election.

The proposal would be paid for by triple taxes for companies such Amazon and Google in what is known as the Digital Services Tax.

NHS data gathered by the House of Commons Library for the Liberal Democrats found that 336,886 under-18s were still waiting for their first appointment with a mental health professional in the three months to the end of March this year.

Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman told BBC Breakfast that: "There are adults who are working in counselling [and] in mental health, who have said that they would be willing to get the extra training to be able to work with children and young people.

"Of course we would need to train more, they wouldn't be available overnight."

Wilson said tripling the Digital Services Tax "would more than pay for this policy".

The Liberal Democrat manifesto promises state-funded school governing bodies had a duty to provide access to a qualified mental health practitioner or a school counsellor, funded by central government. Smaller schools with 100 or fewer pupils could share access to the same person.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “All children and young people deserve timely and high-quality support for their mental health when they need it; accessing help cannot be a postcode lottery.

“Funding for these vital services simply hasn’t kept pace with demand, meaning less capacity, long waiting lists and higher thresholds for support.

“The policy put forward by the Liberal Democrats to provide a mental health professional in every school would help improve access to early help for children and young people.”