Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve early intervention and treatment in cases of eating disorder among young people.

We know the difference that early intervention can make and recognise that the earlier treatment is provided, the greater the chance of recovery. It is vital that everyone with an eating disorder can access quick, specialist help when necessary.

The Government set up the first waiting times to improve access to eating disorder services for children and young people. The standard we are working towards is that by 2020/21, 95% of children with an eating disorder will receive treatment within one week for urgent cases and within four weeks for routine cases. Data from January to March 2019 shows 80.6% of all patients started urgent treatment within one week and 82.4% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks.