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Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced £60 million to help improve pupils’ mental health and ensure that every secondary school has counselling services.

The money aims to provide around 350 school counsellors, a move which comes soon after 91���� Scotland highlighted concerns about the lack of school-based counselling in swathes of the country. There will also be more than 80 additional counsellors in further and higher education over the next four years through an investment of around £20 million.

In announcing the 2018-19 programme for government this afternoon, Ms Sturgeon said the £60 million would also go towards an additional 250 school nurses to be in place by 2022. The government says this will “provide a response to mild and moderate emotional and mental health difficulties experienced by young people in the form of local help that is available immediately”.

Teachers to be trained in mental health first aid

The government also says it will ensure that, by the end of 2019-20, every local authority will be offered training for teachers in mental health first aid, using a “train the trainer” model that will allow dissemination to all schools.

The announcement about school counselling services is part of a range of initiatives on mental health with which Ms Sturgeon concluded her programme for government speech.

She faced criticism from Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson for not taking more action on child mental health before now, while Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie highlighted the “failure” of “disgraceful” waits for child and adolescent mental health services in parts of the country.