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Written Question
Mental Health Services: Finance
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the roll-out of funding for Mental Health Support Teams beyond 2025.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are currently approximately 400 mental health support teams in place in schools and colleges across England, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues and covering over three million children or approximately 35% of pupils. We estimate this will increase to 44% by April 2024 and we are aiming to increase this coverage to 50% of pupils by March 2025.

The Government is investing an additional £3.3 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the National Health Service in England. Future financial plans, including details on the further rollout of mental health support teams, will be confirmed in due course.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Children and Young People
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report Children and young people’s mental health services: Targets, progress and barriers to improvement published by the Education Policy Institute on 10 December.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We have made no such assessment. However, we are committed to increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by March 2024 and have set out our aim in the NHS Long Term Plan for an additional 345,000 children and young people to be able to get the mental health support they need.

We continue to work with the Department for Education to implement the proposals of the Government’s Transforming children and young people’s mental health green paper. A copy of the green paper is attached.

There are now almost 400 mental health support teams in place in schools and colleges across England. Mental health support teams now cover over three million children or approximately 35% of pupils in schools and colleges. We aim to increase this coverage to 50% by April 2025.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Children
Thursday 10th March 2022

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of children in England referred to mental health services in each year from 2018 to 2021 were looked after children.

Answered by Lord Kamall

The information is not held in the format requested as the number of looked after children referred to mental health services is not collected.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Children in Care
Thursday 10th March 2022

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many looked after children in England were referred to mental health services in (1) 2021, and (2) 2020.

Answered by Lord Kamall

The information is not held in the format requested as the number of looked after children referred to mental health services is not collected.


Written Question
Self-harm: Children
Monday 7th March 2022

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children in England (1) attended, and (2) were admitted through, Accident and Emergency departments for self-harming in each year from 2018 to 2021; and what percentage of those were looked after children.

Answered by Lord Kamall

This information is not held in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of unplanned attendances and admissions for self-harming of children and young people through accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England in each year from 2018 to 2021. Data on looked after children is not available as this information is not recorded in hospital data.

Financial year

All unplanned A&E attendances for patients aged 0-18 years old coded as ‘deliberate self harm’

Hospital admissions through emergency departments for patients aged 0-18 years old with a cause code of 'self-poisoning' or 'self-harm'

2017-18

21,744

22,308

2018-19

25,138

23,327

2019-20

25,432

23,617

2020-21

18,425

23,501

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital


Written Question
Social Services: Reorganisation
Tuesday 20th April 2021

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities in England have combined their adult social services and children's social services under one director.

Answered by Lord Bethell

The information requested is not held centrally.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Children
Monday 1st February 2021

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the announcement by Childline on 13 January that there was a 16 per cent increase in the number of counselling sessions about mental health with children aged 11 and under from April to December 2020 as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Lord Bethell

We continue to work closely with the Department for Education, NHS England and NHS Improvement, Public Health England and a wide range of stakeholders to support all people’s mental wellbeing and mental health, and we are working with them to ensure that children and young people and their parents or carers know what support is available. For those who need them, NHS services remained open throughout the first wave and will do so throughout the second.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Thursday 21st January 2021

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prioritise the provision of COVID-19 vaccines to school staff and other keyworkers to ensure that essential public services can be safe working environments.

Answered by Lord Bethell

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccines the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level.  For the first phase, the JCVI has advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.

If school staff and other key workers are captured in phase one due to their age, or clinical risk factors, they will be prioritised.

Prioritisation decisions for the next phase of delivery are subject to the surveillance and monitoring data and information from phase one, as well as further input from independent scientific experts, such as the JCVI. Phase two of the rollout may include targeted vaccination of those at high risk of exposure and/or those delivering key public services, such as school staff.


Written Question
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome
Tuesday 29th December 2020

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 11 December (HL11105), where information on the number of children diagnosed as having foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is held.

Answered by Lord Bethell

This information is not currently collected and only estimates are available. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 156 published in January 2019 estimated that approximately 3.2% of babies born in the United Kingdom are affected by foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Further estimates on prevalence are calculated by academic institutions and voluntary organisations and vary greatly.


Written Question
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome
Friday 11th December 2020

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of children in England who have been diagnosed as having foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Answered by Lord Bethell

This information is not held centrally.