Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with ADHD receive the level of support set out in the guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence entitled Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management, published on 14 March 2018.

The Department is currently considering next steps to improve access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments and support in England. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including ADHD assessments and support, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England is establishing to look at ADHD service provision in England and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD and to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand.

Alongside the work of the taskforce, NHS England will continue to develop a national ADHD data improvement plan, carry out more detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape, and capture examples from local health systems in England, which are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services, to ensure best practice is captured and shared across the system.