The government is “failing” apprentices in its proposals on access to mental health provision and needs to better acknowledge the difference between colleges and schools, MPs have warned.

In their Failing a generation report, the Commons Education Select Committee and its sister Health and Social Care Select Committee assessed the government’s Green Paper on mental health.

The report says the paper fails to mention apprentices at all in its 54 pages, and also notes that “neither minister referred to colleges or further education at all” when they were questioned by the committees.

The committees write that schools minister Nick Gibb gave them assurances that the Green Paper was “explicitly for people up to the age of 18”, and “will incorporate those young people [apprentices] as well’. But their report says the Green Paper is “not clear” and does not refer to any specific actions.

Colleges face rising mental health problems

The report continues: “This appears to be another example of a failure to join up relevant policies: the government is expending resources to promote apprenticeships; yet failing to provide support for this growing group of young people.”

The select committees recommend that the government should take action to ensure that apprentices also have access to mental health provision as part of the Green Paper’s proposals.

They stress in their findings that schools and colleges offer different environments and different challenges for implementing the government’s proposals, with MP’s stating in their report: “We do not believe this difference was adequately recognised.”

As part of its submitted evidence to the committee, the Association of Colleges (AoC) reported that 85 per cent of colleges said that they had experienced an increase in students declaring mental health issues. MPs said they heard compelling evidence that getting colleges on board with implementing the Green Paper’s proposals could offer “faster generation of evidence of best practice”.

In their conclusions and recommendations, the MPs say: “The government often referred to schools and colleges interchangeably, and did not adequately recognise the substantial differences between schools and colleges. We recommend the government utilise the potential of a further education sectoral approach in implementation alongside other approaches.”

‘Not ambitious enough’

Stuart Rimmer, chair of the AoC’s mental health policy group, who gave evidence to the committees, said: “We are grateful to the committee for highlighting the different needs and roles of schools and colleges and welcome their recommendation. We also agree with the select committee findings that the roll-out of the Green Paper is not ambitious enough in terms of timescale and risks leaving many young people without the support services they need now.”

David Hughes, AoC chief executive, added: “We welcome the way in which the Green Paper is highlighting the importance of education in supporting young people with mental health difficulties. Many of the findings are also in line with experiences in many of our colleges, particularly since it is clear that 75 per cent of mental health conditions are established before the age of 24. AoC welcomes the opportunity to get involved with the group looking at the needs of those aged 16-25.

“As the report outlines, it is very difficult for colleges currently to find adequate resources to support young people and help to build their resilience. Post-16 education is funded significantly less per student than 11-16 schools or universities, and colleges have a higher proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who, as the report indicates, are more likely to develop mental health challenges. We would welcome a review of 16-19 funding which recognises the additional costs of supporting large numbers of those with mental health needs.

“Colleges across the country do excellent work in helping students to stay well and to support those with mental ill health, keeping people out of A&E and hospital beds. A number have strong relationships with local NHS and mental health teams. We would like to see every NHS trust match the best in terms of partnership-working with colleges. We will continue to work with government and other partners to provide consistent support to students of all ages across England and to do our bit to prevent a growing crisis in mental health in young people and the next generation of adults.”

‘The crisis is happening now’

The Association of Employment and Learning Provider’s (AELP) research director Paul Warner said: “It’s right that Robert Halfon has stressed the importance of this issue in relation to apprentices and AELP is working with its member providers on equipping learners with the mental resilience required to learn on the job. Any adjustment to government policy therefore needs to recognise the important role of independent training providers in this as well as schools and colleges”.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the report confirmed his concerns that the government’s plans for improving mental health support for children and young people do not go “far enough or fast enough”.

 “The government’s Green Paper fails to address the critical problem facing schools and colleges, which is the fact that real-terms funding cuts are forcing them to cut back on existing counselling and support services at exactly the time that mental health issues are rising. The proposal for a designated senior lead for mental health in every school doesn’t address this problem, and may actually add to workload. And there are many unanswered questions about how the mental health support teams envisaged in the Green Paper would work,” he added.

“The Green Paper also fails to adequately address the most important issue beyond the school gates, which is the lack of capacity in local NHS services for students with serious mental health problems. Its ponderous plan to roll-out pilot projects to reduce waiting times over the course of several years is simply not good enough. The crisis is happening now.”

‘We reject any suggestions our plans lack ambition’

A spokesperson for the government said ministers will formally respond to the consultation in the coming months.

“Within the trailblazer areas set out in our Green Paper proposals, we will trial a number of approaches to improve mental health intervention, including how apprentices and other young people aged 16-18 in work-based learning can access the new mental health support teams,” the spokesperson added.

“We completely reject any suggestion that our plans lack ambition - these changes will transform mental health services for children and young people, including the first-ever waiting time standards for those with the most serious problems.

“This will be supported by a new workforce - larger than the entire current workforce - and backed by £300 million of additional funding that will also provide significant additional resources for all schools. This builds on what good schools are already doing, without adding unnecessarily to teachers’ workloads.

“We agree that every young person should be able to access mental health support - however, we need to ensure we get this right, which is why we will pilot this approach to make sure services are correct.”