Counselling providers for secondary schools: FOI release

Information requested

A list of who the school counselling provider is for each secondary school in Scotland.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. There is variation in how the access to counselling services is being delivered across authorities. This information should be held by local authorities and schools, therefore, you may wish to contact individual local authorities with your request. Information on local authority contact information can be found here: Local authorities - Enquire

It may be helpful to understand the wider context of the school counselling commitment, if you are not already aware. We are providing £16m million to Scottish local authorities to support implementation of access to a counsellor in every secondary school in Scotland, and our local authority partners have confirmed that access to counselling support services are in place across Scotland.

There is variation in how the access to counselling services is being delivered across authorities. In September 2021 we published a summary report on analysis and combined information, provided by local authorities, on the school counselling service in their area. This can be found here: Access to counsellors in secondary schools: summary report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government published a guidance document for local authorities to support delivery of the counsellors commitment, which can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/guidanceeducation-authorities-establishing-access-counselling-secondary-schools/. We also agreed a set of aims and principles in order to achieve the policy intent behind the commitment of increasing access to counselling, while enabling local authorities to ensure any provision is complimentary and linked to existing provisions. The aims and principles can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/delivery-of-access-to-counsellors-through-schools-aims-andprinciples/

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.