Will Labour deliver school mental healthcare pledge?

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, have pledged to "supercharge a coordinated effort to address the root causes of issues resulting in disruption and chaos in classrooms".

- JOHN RENTOUL

In an article launching their plans, the line that attracted most attention was about teaching children "grit" to survive the ups and downs of school life as preparation for the ups and downs of life. But the substance was this announcement: "We will deliver on our manifesto commitment to get every child who needs it access to mental health support within school - and over the course of this year, we will roll that support out to nearly a million extra children." Phillipson, who was on the morning media round yesterday to sell this announcement, told BBC TV: "There is a clear link between poor mental health and poor attendance."

What did Labour promise at the election?

The party's manifesto said: “Labour will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate." Along with a promise of Young Futures Hubs in "every community", this was costed at £175m a year, which amounts to only a few thousand pounds per school in England.

In addition, the party promised 8,500 additional mental health staff in the NHS, costed at £410m a year. Again, this is not a huge amount of money, and not enough to deliver the ambition in the manifesto to "give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health".