Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to prevent the risk of overdiagnosing mental health conditions in children and young people.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises rising demand for children and young people’s mental health services.
Through the Plan for Change and our 10-Year Health Plan, we are transforming the mental health system to strengthen clinical pathways and improve access to early support, while reducing the longest waits for specialist care and tackling regional disparities.
The independent review into mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism is examining the drivers of rising prevalence and demand, to ensure people receive the right support, at the right time, and in the right place.
More widely, we are accelerating the rollout of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, with national coverage expected by 2029. By this spring, approximately 60% of pupils will have access to early mental health support, up from 44% in spring 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government by how much demand for mental health, ADHD and autism services is increasing or decreasing in each of the past five years for people aged (1) under 16, (2) 16-24, (3) 25-34, (4) 35-49, (5) 50-64, and (6) over 65.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of people in contact with National Health Service funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services, in each financial year between 2020/21 and 2024/25:
Age group | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Under 16 years old | 593,297 | 776,750 | 869,206 | 915,617 | 986,814 |
16-24 years old | 499,690 | 595,233 | 642,990 | 640,187 | 678,667 |
25-34 years old | 385,511 | 438,756 | 500,668 | 542,170 | 606,461 |
35-49 years old | 424,031 | 466,396 | 525,588 | 581,642 | 661,362 |
50-64 years old | 331,311 | 357,524 | 388,097 | 418,523 | 449,505 |
65 years old and over | 563,811 | 609,373 | 647,310 | 675,575 | 685,797 |
UNKNOWN | 5,593 | 12,663 | 9,005 | 17,112 | 60,684 |
Source: Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS)
Notes:
The following table shows the number of people known to be in contact with NHS Talking Therapies in each financial year between 2020/21 and 2024/25:
Age group | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|
Under 16 years old | 1,222 | 1,189 | 925 | 886 | 749 |
|
16-24 years old | 360,673 | 424,826 | 398,859 | 370,377 | 350,213 |
|
25-34 years old | 487,273 | 571,094 | 563,973 | 555,142 | 543,044 |
|
35-49 years old | 437,838 | 514,275 | 537,364 | 564,755 | 583,614 |
|
50-64 years old | 265,491 | 311,633 | 332,821 | 358,120 | 366,773 |
|
65 years old and over | 89,446 | 108,885 | 123,740 | 136,297 | 140,262 |
|
Source: Improving Accessing to Psychological Therapies dataset Notes:
| ||||||
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 26 January (HL13748), how much the Every Mind Matters campaign has cost since January 2025 to date.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been no campaign spend for Every Mind Matters over the period requested. However, a campaign launched over the new year and is running until the end of March 2026 to encourage people to take new NHS Healthy Choices Quiz which asks questions about six health topics, including mental health and sleep. People whose answers to the quiz indicate mental health difficulties will be signposted to appropriate help, including Every Mind Matters, NHS Talking Therapies, or other National Health Service mental health services.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the long-term outcomes for individuals diagnosed with mental health conditions, including potential harms from diagnostic labelling and unnecessary treatment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are concerned that many adults, young people, and children with mental health conditions have been let down by services and are not receiving timely or appropriate support and treatment. That is why we have launched an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism, which will look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism.
The review will look at prevalence, early intervention, and treatment, and the current challenges facing clinical services. The review will also examine the extent to which diagnosis, medicalisation, and treatment improve outcomes for individuals. This will include exploring the evidence around clinical practice and the risks and benefits of medicalisation. It will also seek to identify opportunities to provide different models of support and pathways, within and beyond the National Health Service, that promote prevention and early intervention, supplementing clinical support.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the decision by the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, whether their updated guidance will include changes to the gender recognition certificate policy framework.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The For Women Scotland Ltd vs The Scottish Ministers judgment ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act, “woman” is a biological woman. The ruling makes clear that a Gender Recognition Certificate does not change a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has submitted a draft Code of Practice to Ministers, and we are reviewing it with the care it deserves. The Code concerns how the Equality Act 2010 applies to services, associations and those exercising public functions.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of increase in demand for special educational needs and disabilities places in the past 10 years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A greater proportion of our school children are educated in special schools than at any time in the past fifty years.
For the first time in 2023, the school capacity survey asked local authorities to provide data on the capacity of special schools and the capacity of special education needs (SEN) units and resourced provision in mainstream schools, as well as their forecast future demand for specialist provision. This is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-capacity-in-england-academic-year-2023-to-2024.
Since 2015/16, the number of children in all types of special schools has increased from 115,000 to 200,000 in 2024/25. The number of specialist placements overall is expected to continue to increase based on current trends.
The department also collects numbers of pupils on roll with SEN through the school census with data from 2025/26 onwards. Data is published by type of provision and can be accessed here at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2025.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of young people who receive health-related benefits for mental health, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism enter sustained employment within (1) two years, (2) five years, and (3) 10 years, of their initial claim.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Lloyd of Effra on 2 January (HL13041), when they will publish the enactment impact assessment for the Employment Rights Act 2025; and whether that assessment will include breakdowns by sector of the impact on (1) small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, and (2) micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On Wednesday 7 January, the Government published the Enactment Summary Impact Assessment for the Employment Rights Act 2025. This forms part of a comprehensive package of 29 Impact Assessments analysing the impact of the Act: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. As per our Better Regulation requirements, each Impact Assessment includes a small and micro business assessment.