Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recent statement from the Children’s Commissioner that England is a decade away from a decent mental health service for all children.

The Children’s Commissioner’s report acknowledges that there have been significant improvements in access to specialist children’s mental health services. The Government is committed to building on this to ensure children get the support they need.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to ensuring at least an additional 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 can access mental health support by 2023/24, including new Mental Health Support Teams in and near groups of schools and colleges. These teams will cover 20 – 25% of the country by 2023/24.