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 minimise the potential risk of (a) suicide and (b) mental health issues among young people as a result of the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.

The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work closely with the Department for Education, NHS England and NHS Improvement, Public Health England (PHE) and a wide range of stakeholders to support all people’s mental wellbeing and mental health. We are working with them to ensure that children and young people and their parents or carers know what support is available.

To support children and young people’s mental wellbeing, we launched in September our £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme. It has supported education staff to respond to the emotional and mental health pressures some children and young people may be feeling as a result of COVID-19.