Alex Dews

Department for Education 
2 St Paul’s Place 
125 Norfolk Street 
Sheffield 

S1 2FJ 

Email enquiry form: 
www.education.gov.uk/contactus/dfe 

Date: 06 December 2023 

Dear Ms Combes 

Thank you for your Report to Prevent Future Deaths which was received by the Department 

for Education on 10 October 2023. 

This is a tragic case of a life cut short far too young. My thoughts are with Alex’s family and 

friends, and everyone who knew him. I am mindful of the timing of this response, so close to 

Alex’s birthday, at what will undoubtedly be a most difficult time for his loved ones. 

It  may  be  useful  to  begin  with  setting  out  the  Department’s  requirements  of  schools  and 

colleges in respect of safeguarding and mental health provision, in addition to responding to 

the  action  directed  to  the  Department.  All  schools  and  colleges  must  have  regard  to  the 

statutory  guidance  Keeping  children  safe  in  education,  and  school  staff  should  also  have 

regard to the Department’s advice on Mental health and behaviour in schools. 

Keeping  children  safe  in  education  is  clear  that  governing  bodies  and  proprietors  have  a 

strategic  leadership  responsibility  for  their  school  or  college’s  safeguarding  arrangements 

and  must  ensure that  they  comply  with  their duties  under  legislation.  The  guidance  states 

that schools and colleges should work with local authority children’s social care, the police, 

health, and other services to promote the  welfare  of  children and  protect them  from  harm. 

This includes  providing a coordinated offer of early help when additional needs of children 

are identified. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 All  schools  should  have  a  child  protection  policy  and  mental  health  provision  should  be 

included in that policy. Whilst there is no requirement on schools to have a standalone mental 

health policy, many choose to do so. School staff cannot act as mental health experts, but 

they should ensure that they have clear systems and processes in place for early intervention 

and  identification,  referral  to  experienced  skilled  professionals,  and  clear  accountability 

systems. It is important that schools have an understanding of the local services available, 

including  school  nurses,  and  how  and  when  to  draw  on,  or  commission,  them.  Where 

required, schools should expect parents and pupils to seek and receive support elsewhere, 

including from their GP, NHS services, trained professionals working in specialist child and 

adolescent mental health services, voluntary organisations, and other sources. 

Many individual  schools  are  able to  commission  individual  support and  health  services  for 

pupils, to give increased flexibility and provide an early intervention response. It is important 

that schools commission appropriately qualified and experienced external providers, as this 

will provide assurance that they are properly trained, supported, professionally supervised, 

insured, and working within agreed policy frameworks and standards, and are accountable 

to a professional body with a clearly articulated complaints procedure. 

Local authorities are ultimately responsible for protection and welfare of all children in a local 

area. Those duties do not preclude a school or college from offering support and procuring 

mental health services for its pupils. The Mental health and behaviour in schools advice sets 

out  school  roles  and  responsibilities  in  relation  to  mental  health  and  provides  advice  and 

guidance on working with other professionals and external agencies. 

The Department for Education is not prescriptive in what support services schools can use 

–  that  authority  is  delegated  to  school  leaders  to  ensure  that  the  support  is  tailored  for 

children  by  those  who  know  them  best.  Schools  have  delegated  budgets  to  make  those 

decisions  and  should  escalate  cases  to  children’s  social  care  or  to  child  and  adolescent 

mental health services when there is cause for concern over and above the support that a 

school puts in place. 

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 All concerns, discussions and decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions, should 

be recorded in writing. Information should be kept confidential and stored securely. It is good 

practice to keep concerns and referrals in a separate child protection file for each child. The 

designated safeguarding lead is responsible for ensuring that child protection files are kept 

up  to  date.  Records  should  include  a  clear  and  comprehensive  summary  of  the  concern; 

details  of  how  the  concern  was  followed  up  and  resolved;  a  note  of  any  action  taken, 

decisions reached; and the outcome. 

As  you  will  appreciate,  each  child  is unique,  as  are  the  circumstances  of  the  support  they 

may need throughout their time at school. It is with this in mind that the Department seeks to 

give school leaders as much flexibility as possible in deciding appropriate support managed 

within  the  school.  This  flexibility  is  governed  by  a  statutory  safeguarding  framework  that 

operates inside a much broader safeguarding system that includes local authorities, police, 

and health, as the statutory safeguarding partners. 

Whilst  the  sad  circumstances  of  Alex’s  case  would  not  have  met  the  threshold  for  a  child 

serious  incident,  or action  by the  Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, there is local 

learning for the Barnsley Safeguarding Children Partnership, and they may well appreciate 

sight of the Regulation 28 in Alex’s name, if you have not already shared with them. 

The Department is working with the Minister for Women and Equalities to develop guidance 

to support schools and colleges in relation to children who are questioning their gender. We 

know that this is a complex and sensitive issue, and that some schools and colleges feel that 

they need more support in this area in order to help pupils, students, and parents to deal with 

concerns  raised.  The  Department  will  hold  a  full  public  consultation  on  the  draft  guidance 

prior to its publication. 

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 I  trust  the  information  provided  in  this  response  satisfies  the  action  attributed  to  the 

Department for Education. I would be interested to see the responses from colleagues at the 

Department for Health and Social Care, and from Outwood Academy Shafton, to understand 

whether  and  where  we  can  further  strengthen  our  guidance  to  support  schools  when 

safeguarding our children. 

With best wishes to you, and to the family and friends of Alex. 

Assistant Director – Safeguarding Strategy and Systemic Improvement 

Department for Education 

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From Maria Caulfield MP 
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State 
Department of Health & Social Care 

39 Victoria Street 
London 
SW1H 0EU 

 9 May 2024  

Abigail Combes  
Assistant Coroner  
The Medico-Legal Centre  
Watery Street  
Sheffield  
S3 7ES  

Dear Ms Combes,  

Thank you for your Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths dated 10 October 2023 
about the death of Alex Dews.  I am replying as the Minister with responsibility for mental 
health and patient safety.       

Firstly, I would like to say how saddened I was to read of the circumstances of Alex’s death 
and I offer my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones. The circumstances your 
report describes are concerning and I am grateful to you for bringing these matters to my 
attention. Please accept my sincere apologies for the significant delay in responding to this 
matter.  

Your report raises concerns over the provision of mental health care for young people in 
schools. In preparing this response, Departmental officials have made enquiries with NHS 
England and the Department for Education, and I understand that that Department and 
Outwood Grange Academies Trust Outwood Grange Academies Trust have each already 
carefully considered the matters of concern in your report and have provided you with 
comprehensive responses setting out the actions being taken to improve the mental health 
support being provided in schools.  

I have been advised by the local NHS that, if a child or young person in Barnsley is 
struggling with their mental health, referrals can be made by professionals, and self-
referrals from children and young people and from their families/carers to Branching 
Minds.  This is the single point of contact for child and adolescent mental health services 
(CAMHS) and mental health support teams.  If a professional is unsure about what support 
is needed, a telephone call to Branching Minds is encouraged to obtain advice with the 
case being explored/discussed further as a collaboration. Each referral is assessed based 
upon the individual situation, background, risk or triggers.   

A recommendation is then made as to whether the referral is appropriate for CAMHS. If a 
child or young person is receiving support from an alternative service at the time of referral, 
this would not prevent them from being accepted into CAMHS. The clinician on duty would 
make contact with the young person and/or parent/carer to have a discussion about what 
support is being received and if this was meeting their need. They would also assess the 
suitability of continuing this support whilst waiting for a CAMHS assessment/intervention. 

 
 
 
 
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
 Depending on the presenting need, the young person may be advised to complete an 
ongoing course of counselling before commencing with CAMHS treatment to allow for the 
benefits of the current treatment to be realised. However, they would not be declined on the 
basis of receiving another service.   

Barnsley CAMHS encourages access to appropriate support whilst waiting and is 
embedding a 'waiting well' approach. Barnsley health and social care partners continue to 
work with schools to ensure they are clear on the pathways and processes for referring to 
mental health services, including CAMHS, and have access to risk assessment advice.    

More generally, we are aware that some children and young people are not able to access 
support they need in a timely manner. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are continuing 
to expand and transform NHS mental health care and spend on children and young 
people’s mental health services has increased from £841 million in 2019/20 to just over £1 
billion in 2022/23.   

NHS England’s priorities and operational planning guidance for 2024/25 sets out the aim to 
increase the number of children and young people accessing community mental health 
services to 345,000 by the end of March 2025 compared to 2019 and we are ahead of 
schedule in rolling out Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges. We achieved 
our original ambition of covering 25% of pupils in England a year earlier than planned. We 
expect this to increase to 44% by spring 2024. And we plan to go further, extending 
coverage to 50% of pupils by 2025.   

In addition, NHS England is working towards implementing new access and waiting time 
standards for mental health services including one for children and their families and carers 
to start to receive community-based mental health care within four weeks from referral.  

With regard to children’s gender identity services, NHS England continues to overhaul 
these following the serious clinical and safeguarding issues which were raised regarding 
services at the Tavistock clinic and the recommendations set out by 
 in her 
landmark report into children’s gender services published in April 2024. Following 
, two new services opened at the start of April and will 
recommendations from 
operate under a fundamentally different service model, supported by clinical experts in 
mental health, neuro-development and safeguarding.  

I hope this response is helpful. Thank you for bringing these concerns to my attention.   

Yours sincerely, 

MARIA CAULFIELD

Regulation 28 Response to Coroner
21 November, 2023

Subject:

Purpose:

Author:

Response to Regulation
Deaths report

28: Preventing Future

To provide a response to the Regulation 28: Preventing Future Deaths report which
was issued by Abigail Coombes, Assistant Coroner, on 10 October, 2023

Executive Principal,
Outwood Grange Academies Trust

By Email to:
Copy to:

Ms Abigail Coombes, Assistant Coroner
Barrister, Browne Jacobson

Dear Ms Coombes

The following response has been written on behalf of Outwood Grange Academies Trust as requested in your
Regulation 28: Preventing Future Deaths report dated 10 October 2023.

Format of Response:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Provision of Mental Health and Wellbeing (MHWB) Services involved with the Academy
Referrals to MHWB services in Barnsley Local Authority
Discharge from MHWB services in Barnsley Authority
Further guidance from DfE on support in schools for pupils who are transgendering

Appendices:
A:
B:
C:
D:
E:
(Allattachedinpdfformat)

I-Space referral form
Barnsley MHWB Services referral flow-chart
Branching Minds/Compass Be referral form
I-Space discharge form
I-Space process information document

1.

Provision of Mental Health Services involved with the Academy

As part of the expected graduated response to support young people who may be struggling with their mental
health and wellbeing, Outwood Academy Shafton offers a wide range of internal and external interventions
and has built strong, positive relationships with external agencies to ensure that students can receive the best
possible interventions which can support their wellbeing and learning. Alongside this, we have ensured training
of our own Inclusion and pastoral staff to enable them to deliver one to one or group work sessions which
help us to create a bespoke intervention package to help, guide and support our students and families.

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 The starting point for access to these services is referral by pupil, parent or member of staff to a member of
the Academy’s Inclusion team. This team is line-managed by the Vice Principal, Deep Support (who is usually
also the Designated Safeguarding Lead), and includes the Inclusion Co-ordinator, SENDCO, Safeguarding
Officer, SEND Officer and a team of 6 Learning Managers who support students in each academic year group.
This team meets weekly, on a Thursday evening, to discuss all pupils on the vulnerable register. It is at this
meeting that pupils will also be added to this register as new information or new referrals come to light. In
terms of referral for internal interventions, a pupil is added to the waiting list and referred into one of these
services as soon as a slot becomes available. Because pupils on the vulnerable register are discussed weekly,
there is a constant re-evaluation of waiting lists such that a pupil may well move up in priority if new
information has been received via CPOMS as a cause for concern.

External agencies involved include:

●  Branching Minds: Launched August 2022- now exists as a single point of contact for referral into
adolescent mental health services in the borough. All access to CAMHS is now through this single
point of referral.

●  Compass Be: Launched in Barnsley in September 2022- Compass Be Mental Health Support Team
(MHST) works with children, young people, and families in education settings in Barnsley and is the
NHS procured service for this function. They support young people with low mood, fears and
concerns, challenging behaviours, family relationships and transitioning adjustments. The service is
made up of Education Mental Health Practitioners and Supervising Practitioners, Trainees and
Assistant Practitioners from a range of health and education backgrounds working alongside a
specialist Family Practitioner and Bereavement Counsellor.
I-Space: Additional counselling service procured and paid for by the academy to fill any gap in service.
They specifically support young people with Anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, self-esteem, stress,
anger, bullying, self-harm, bereavement, family breakdown, abuse, neglect.

● 

●  AdAstra: A community interest company, formed in 2013, and part of the local offer in Barnsley. They
work with groups of students on managing emotions, anxieties/worries, exam stress. They also offer a
support group for young people who identify as LGBTQIA+.

●  Think First for the Future: A social enterprise organisation that partners with schools to deliver a
structured Behaviour and Resilience Mentoring Provision which is proven to have a positive
measurable impact on engagement in learning.

●  Youth Justice Service: Youth Justice Service work with children aged 10 to 18 who are involved or are
at risk of being in the criminal justice system. This would be as a result of behaviour that has been
determined by police to be an offence. They work with the child, their parents or carers and in
partnership with any other professional working with the family to prevent further/any offending.
●  Early Help: referral for Early Help either as part of a graduated response where a family support
worker may be required or as a step-down from a social-care Child in Need or Child Protection plan.
Internal interventions delivered by our own team of specialists including bespoke interventions around
life skills, self-esteem and confidence, resilience, emotional
trauma, social skills and social stories,
regulation, anxiety.

● 

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 2.

Referrals to MHWB services in Barnsley

2.1: I-Space

ISpace is a Wakefield-based Community Interest Company working with young people, their families,
schools and communities to support progress and raise aspirations. Their work encourages young
people to reach their full potential; become active citizens who want to improve their emotional,
social, physical and economic environments.

They partner with schools to provide innovative services that give students the opportunity to achieve
in education, build life skills and work towards a brighter future - and they work closely with local
communities to come up with solutions for local issues.

Their team specialise and are passionate about working within the youth arena and are trained in a
range of therapeutic and family work interventions. Their practitioners are experienced and qualified
in working in a range of areas, including:

●  Emotional wellbeing & mental health
●  Early intervention and prevention
●  Drug work
●  Youth justice
●  Youth & Community work
●  Parent support work

They use a range of techniques, strategies and interventions in their work, always based on an
assessment of the needs of each individual. They consider personal differences such as culture,
ethnicity, values and beliefs to inspire and motivate all young people to develop their potential.

Referral to I-space is via the Inclusion team at the academy who would work with the young people
and their family to complete the referral form (Appendix A). Where there is a possible delay in
service due to a waiting list, a pupil would remain on the vulnerable register and be triaged weekly at
the aforementioned Inclusion Meeting.

In addition to the services available in school from ISpace at the time of Alex’s death they now also
host a wellbeing drop-in session for students who no longer access iSpace but may need a catch-up.
This session is also open for students and families who may be waiting to see iSpace to become
familiar with colleagues and to learn a little more about the support available.

2.2: Branching Minds and Compass Be

Referrals to Compass Be can be made through Branching Minds, which is a multi disciplinary team
who provide advice, support and guidance for new referrals for all children and young people’s mental
health services in Barnsley as a single point of contact. The team do not hold any case loads or
provide direct support to children and young people, but the referral will be triaged and if suitable for

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 the service it will then be forwarded to Compass Be. Branching Minds accept requests for support
from young people, parents, carers and professionals

Branching Minds have since issued an updated referral flow-chart which is included as Appendix B to
this report. This is intended to clarify the routes into the services for schools and others who refer.

Referral forms for Branching Minds are readily available and the referral form can be found at South

West Yorkshire Partnership website or on the CompassBe website. These have also been included as

Appendix C of this response. Both professionals and parents can ring in for advice. The advice now

given is to use the single contact number in an urgent referral scenario. Referrals are triaged by the

services on the same day. The service is clear that referrals need to be made as part of a graduated

response which should include appropriate MHWB support internally at school. Branching Minds

begin an information gathering process when a referral is made and they sometimes need to seek

additional information. All cases are treated on an individual basis and some cases may need other

services to support and not MHWB services. Branching Minds look at which service may be most

appropriate in terms of ways forward for an individual. Branching Minds is a triage service.

The Branching Minds Barnsley team work Monday - Thursday from 9am to 4:30pm and Friday, 9am to

4m (excluding bank holidays). For emergency support outside of these hours, patients are directed to

contact their out of hours GP or NHS 111. Further advice is also given by the service to ONLY

contact 999 or attend A&E is someone’s life is at immediate risk.

2.3 CAMHS

Since the implementation of the Branching Minds single point of access process, all referrals from

school to CAMHS are now through this route. Parents can, of course, access Branching Minds directly

as above or speak to their GP for support.

3.

Discharge from MHWB services in Barnsley Authority

3.1: I-Space

The academy has worked with I-space to review processes around how a young person is discharged
when their allocated sessions come to an end. This review had already taken place prior to the
inquest and has now been in place for over a year. A copy of the discharge form (Appendix D) shows
that the service now provides a discharge report to the inclusion team in school. This details how the
school could support further and would be used to detail how any further re-referral to the service
would best be considered. In any event, a pupil who has received support from the I-Space service
would remain on the academy’s vulnerable register and, therefore, be triaged weekly as to whether
any re-referral or referral to an escalated service might be deemed necessary.

3.2: Branching Minds and Compass Be

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 When a referral is accepted or not accepted by these services, an outcome letter goes to the referrer

and the GP. If the parent is the referrer then this outcome letter only comes to school with parental

consent. There are specific reasons why a referral would not be accepted by the service. The main

reason highlighted is if the child is receiving any other support via any other service. This could be a

school-based MHWB service (such as Ispace), CAMHS or a private therapist. A referral may also not

be accepted if they already hold information shared via a GP or other safeguarding/family support

service which means that the referral was deemed not appropriate. We have been informed by the

service that whether a referral is accepted is based on a case by case approach.

When Compass is allocated a case they will communicate verbally with the school to ensure they are

aware of specific students and interventions that will be covered. They will also update the waiting list

for our students. The aim at the moment is to have a four week turnaround in terms of support,

however, this depends on the caseload and differs from school to school. A student usually accesses

six sessions from Compass and then at this stage the referrer receives an outcome letter outlining

what had been covered in the sessions. As above, if the school is not the referrer they will only

receive the outcome letter if the parent or carer chooses to share this with them. Compass will,

however, update verbally during the half termly link meeting sessions in school. Also if Compass has

an ongoing concern about a student in the academy where they are not the referrer then they will

bring the academy's attention to the concern via email or telephone contact which is then noted on

the academy’s CPOMS system and discussed at the Inclusion meeting.

3.3 CAMHS

Where a student has been accessing CAMHS the formal discharge letter is sent to the child’s

parent/carer and to the GP. The school would not be informed of this unless the parent chose to

inform.

4. Further guidance from DfE on support in schools for pupils who are transgendering

At the time of writing this response there has been no update on the expected DfE guidance on
supporting pupils who are transgendering. There has been some media update that a delay in the
release of this guidance, promised a number of months ago, has been caused by matters of law
surrounding disclosures to parents and carers where a young person confides in a member of staff in a
school setting. It is felt that this guidance is long overdue and that schools are trying hard to piece
together best practice in the absence of any official stance or response. Many schools have, indeed,
pieced together their policies and procedures sourcing what they can from local authorities, public
health and the third sector.

Yours Sincerely

Executive Principal
Outwood Grange Academies Trust

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