Written question WQ98811
- Asked by
- Lynne NeagleLabour
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 9 days
Question
When does the Cabinet Minister intend to consult on a revised school-based counselling toolkit?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language (Anna Brychan)
The School and Community-Based Counselling Operational Toolkit was last revised in 2020.
Our manifesto for the 2026 election included a commitment to a wraparound approach on behaviour, attendance and well-being within education. This has been built on with our ‘First 100 days’ commitment to begin work to pilot a new wrap-around ‘Community Schools Plus’ programme, exploring how different funding streams can be consolidated to better embed specialist and trauma informed support to address mental health, wellbeing and behavioural challenges in our schools.
School counselling services are an important part of ensuring children and young people can access high quality wellbeing support, seeing almost 13,500 people in the 2024-25 academic year. Working with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, my officials are developing a revision to the existing toolkit, which we intend to formally consult on. However, the exact timing is still to be agreed, having regard to the need to coordinate the range of activity across the education department in line with our manifesto commitments.