Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of teacher and other school professionals' experience of referring children and young people to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; and what analysis has been conducted by her Department of the time taken from referral to treatment for such services.

Questions about access to mental health services were included as a part of the Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey (2017) and the Supporting Mental Health in Schools and Colleges Survey (2017).

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission are conducting joint inspections of each local area’s approach to identifying and meeting special educational needs and disabilities, including for mental health. The area inspection reports are published on the Ofsted website.

The evaluation of phase one of the joint Department for Education and NHS England Mental Health Services and schools link pilot considered how joint working can improve referrals across 255 schools in 27 areas. Phase two of the pilot will include up to 1200 more schools in 20 areas and will also be evaluated.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper, which will be published before the end of the year, will consider how we can further improve access to treatment.