Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase the provision of eating disorder services in the North East.

The Government announced investment of £150 million in 2014 to expand eating disorder community-based care. As a result 70 dedicated new or extended community services are now either open or in development.

We are implementing the first access standards for eating disorder services for children and young people’s, ensuring that 95% of children with an eating disorder will receive treatment within one week for urgent cases and within four weeks for routine cases. We are on track to meet this commitment by 2020/21.

In September 2019, we announced £70 million to support new pilots in 12 areas to develop models of community mental health care for adults and older adults, including for better access to eating disorder services.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear have nominated Newcastle Gateshead CCG to take a lead on their behalf and have set up a full day workshop to review the eating disorder care pathway to improve community eating disorder services.