Policy & Public Affairs Update: March 2025 

This month has been a busy one filled with a range of stakeholder meetings, engaging with key policy announcements and influencing change.    

Meetings and events   

The BPS Policy & Public Affairs team have participated in a range of meetings and events across March. This has included:  

• The launch of the Allied Health Professional Federation Cymru (AHPFC), sponsored by the Minister of Children and Social Care. Over 50 attendees came from a number of health organisations to hear about the priorities of the new AHPFC and each of the 13 professional bodies highlighted their own priorities. For us, we focused on the need of developing a sustainable psychological workforce with a focus on early intervention and prevention  
• Meeting with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Medical Association to share updates and discuss upcoming work
• Joining the inaugural meeting of the Mental Health Workforce subgroup. This is a new group that will provide support and guidance for NHS England on workforce-related policy. Members of the group include the Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Rethink, NHS Providers, NHS Confederation, Association of Mental Health Providers and Centre for Mental Health
• Meeting with BPS member, Gethin Nadin, who is chair of the Policy Liaison Group (PLG) for Workplace Wellbeing. We have been invited to speak at an upcoming roundtable hosted by the PLG, on the topic of mental health. Dr Beccy Cooper MP (Labour MP for Worthing West and public health consultant) will be in attendance
• Attending the Health and Wellbeing at Work conference in Birmingham, alongside members of our Division of Occupational Psychology
• Meeting with Laura Flatman, Retention National Programme Lead at NHS England, to discuss the recent report published on the People Promise Exemplar Programme
• Attending the HCPC's Professional Body Forum. We have also been engaging with the HCPC on their review of the standards of education and training
• Joining the bi-monthly National SEND Forum meeting
• Meeting with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation alongside other organisations to discuss the Essentials Guarantee campaign
• Attending Scottish Parliament election manifesto development and communications strategy meetings for Scotland's Mental Health Partnership (SMHP), of which BPS is a member.   

In another vein, James McTaggart (Practice Board and SDEP Committee member) participated in an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, on the topic of behaviour in schools.   

At the end of February, we attended the Royal College of Psychiatrists Scottish Parliament reception, featuring a panel debate with Maree Todd (Scottish government Mental Health Minister), Paul Sweeney MSP (Scottish Labour Mental Health spokesperson), and Alastair Cook (outgoing Scottish government Principal Medical Officer for Mental Health). 

Consultations  

Consultations provide us with the opportunity to comment on proposals and submit recommendations for change. In Wales, we provided feedback to the Senedd's Health and Social Care Committee's call for evidence to support their scrutiny of the Mental Health Bill and the impact that the proposals will have on Welsh powers and Welsh services. Furthermore, we responded to the same committee's call for evidence for their inquiry into the future or general practice, stressing the important role that psychologists can play in supporting GPs and their teams and in delivering better health outcomes for their patients. 

In Wales, we also responded to the Older People's Commissioner's call for feedback on her actions for her first term in office.  

In England, we responded to NHS England's consultation on their new Management and Leadership Framework, which includes a set of standards and competencies for managers and leaders working at every level across the NHS.   

The Policy & Public Affairs team will be responding to a range of consultations over the coming months. This includes Ofsted's consultation on proposed changed to the way education inspections are carried out. If you would like to inform the BPS' response, please complete this survey by Friday 4 April, or email zosia.walecka@bps.org.uk to share your views.  

Furthermore, we will be responding to the Professional Standards Authority's consultation on Standards of Good Regulation and Standards for Accredited Registers, and the Department for Work and Pensions consultation on reforms to the health and disability benefits system, and wider employment support. You can find out more about these consultations and how to respond on the consultation page of the BPS website. 

Wider activities  

We responded to the UK government's announcement on welfare reform changes, and the Spring Statement delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

As members of the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition, we welcomed the publication of a new blueprint for Young Future Hubs.  

We are pleased to see that the Senedd's petitions committee has recommended that Welsh Government does not legislate a ban on smartphones in schools, after our Educational Psychology lead attended a roundtable event held by the committee in January, stating that producing guidance is the BPS's preferred option.   

We are waiting for the publication of the new Mental Health Strategy for Wales and its delivery plans, expected in April.   

Psychology Matters   

We published our Psychology Matters programme pages on the BPS website. This month's feature story for the Psychology informed policy workstream was an interview with Dr Lynne Taylor, the Scottish Government's Principal Psychology Advisor.   

We also published Psychology Matters interviews with social psychologist Dr Daniel Jolley, PhD researcher Oindrilla Ghosh, and Chair of the Division of Health Psychology Scotland Heather Connolly. Furthermore, we featured the career story of trauma psychologist Thomas Peyton-Lander, who works in blue light services.   

Campaigns  

Our ongoing campaigning work around the vital role of educational psychologists in SEND system reform has seen us welcome the Welsh Government's announcement on the additional £20m to be allocated to local authorities to improve facilities and access in schools to pupils with Additional Learning Needs (ALN). Additionally, we welcomed the Northern Ireland Executive's Programme for Government which included a focus on the role of educational psychologists.   

We also met with a range of stakeholders this month, including Square Peg, the County Councils Network, the National Association of Head Teachers, Anna Freud and the Local Government Association. We also met with the schools team at DfE to share updates and upcoming work.  

We continue to focus on the vital need for mental health support for NHS staff, and responded to NHS England's People Promise Exemplar Programme report, which revealed a decrease in the number of staff leaving the health service across key trusts in the country. 

A final note from Wales 

We heard the sad news that Ruth Crowder, Chief Allied Health Professional Advisor to Welsh Government is retiring in June. Ruth has been a great advocate for psychology in Wales and has always been available to guide us through the difficult times around funding, training and supporting the profession.