Covid-19 will not stop Scotland’s ambitious plan to provide access to a mental health counsellor in every secondary school by October, MSPs have been told.

But they were also advised that, with the restrictions demanded by coronavirus, such services may not initially be provided in the ways expected.

One suggestion is that text-based counselling may be preferred by many students, rather than using video-based communication.

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The deadline for a counselling service had previously been moved back by a month, to October, and the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee explored today whether the commitment was still viable at any point even beyond next month, given that it was made before coronavirus.

Committee convener Clare Adamson asked one of three expert witnesses if the policy was still “fit for purpose” in the midst of the Covid outbreak and beyond.

Barry Syme, treasurer and executive committee member of the Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP), said: “Yes, I believe, it still is fit for purpose...I think it’s really welcome that we’ve now got the offer [of counselling in every secondary school] across Scotland.”

He added: “Covid will be around for quite a while so we need to be thinking in different ways of how we do remote counselling, but a lot of the evidence coming through from some of the providers is that young people want face-to-face counselling...rather than try and do it remotely.”

Laura Caven, policy manager for children and young people at local authorities body Cosla, warned that if face-to-face services are not available then some students may not want to rely on video calls if they are in homes where they are worried about being overheard.

She said: “We’ve had feedback that some children and young people are actually finding that using text-based messaging, rather than actually speaking, is preferable.” She said that being able to message a counsellor was, for some students, a “far more convenient method of technology”.

Ms Caven also warned that, while the October target was still achievable - Scottish government officials had carried out a survey and were “confident that there will certainly be access to counsellors through schools in October” - services may differ from what was originally envisaged.

She said that “it may not be that the full delivery in its final state is in place by October”, but that “the other thing to remember is that this is one part of a wider system of supports that were either already in place or are being developed”.

Jennifer King, of education directors’ body ADES, warned of the danger of rushing to meet the October target.

Ms King, who is network chair for children and young people and also leads on additional support needs (ASN), said: “We also have to get it right, and I think that’s as important as sticking to any deadlines to scale up quickly in order to simply have a service there.”

She added: “We have to look beyond the immediate period and implementation and look at if we’ve got something that’s going to be sustainable and resilient.”

Ms King said Scotland should look to Wales, where similar ambitions had been refined over 10 years.

She added that the school-based counselling policy “has to be something that lasts much longer than the next few months”.