Asked by: Ian Levy (Conservative - Blyth Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve access to early mental health care for children and young people who have not yet had a medical diagnosis; and what progress he has made on the provision of early support hubs in the North East.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
We are making good progress on expanding access to mental health care for children and young people year on year. 689,621 children and young people In England aged under 18 years old were supported through National Health Service funded mental health services with at least one contact in the year up to July 2022 compared to 618,537 in the year up to July 2021.
We are continuing the roll-out of mental health support teams, offering early support to children experiencing mild to moderate mental health concerns in schools and colleges across England. These teams also support the school in adopting a Whole School/College Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing and support the school to liaise with external specialists to help children get the right support to stay in education. There are currently 26 mental health support teams planned or operating within the North East and North Cumbria integrated care system area.
The Government is working with the sector to understand the role of early support hubs in supporting children and young people. There are currently around 60 locally designed and funded hubs in England, which often provide several different services, for example, early intervention and prevention services, sexual health clinics or careers advice. Integrated care boards and local authorities work with local partners to understand local needs and commission services on that basis.
Asked by: Ian Levy (Conservative - Blyth Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure adequate provision of support services for 16 and 17 year olds with autism and sensory issues who have left full time education but do not yet have access to adult services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Through implementation of our national autism strategy, published on 21 July 2021, we are taking action to enable positive transitions into adulthood for autistic children and young people.
We are investing £121 million in 2023/24, including for Children and Young People’s keyworkers, to improve community support for autistic people and people with a learning disability as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. In addition, in 2023/2024, £4.2 million of funding is available to improve services for autistic children and young people aged 0 to 25 years old, including post-diagnostic support.
On 2 March 2023, the Department for Education published the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement plan in response to the Green Paper published in March last year. As part of this, the Department is currently exploring good practice on transitions, to provide consistent, timely, high-quality preparation for children and young people with SEND, including autistic children and young people, when they transition between different stages of their education, into employment, or adult social care services. Following this, the Department for Education will publish guidance to support effective transitions between all stages of education, and into employment and adult services by the end of 2025.