Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce the waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services in the Tees Esk Wear Mental Health Trust region.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year in expanding and transforming National Health Service mental health services by March 2024, compared to 2018/19. As part of this, an extra 345,000 more children and young people will be able to get the NHS-funded mental health support they need.

NHS England is working on implementing five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, including one for children and their families and carers to start receiving community-based mental health care within four weeks of referral.

A consultation pilot began in Teesside in October 2023, which has allowed families to be re-directed to appropriate support, and for services to be able to reinvest time back into the backlog of assessments. The trust is currently reviewing the implementation and extension of this pilot into Durham and Darlington.