Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide funding for a network of early support hubs for the provision of mental health support for young people in the forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy.

Further policy detail will be set out in the Major Conditions Strategy Interim Report, later this year. The Government is aware of Early Support Hubs and is working with the sector to understand their role in supporting children and young people but there are currently plans to create a network of hubs across the country. There are currently around 60 hubs in England that feature early intervention and prevention services. They are locally designed and funded and often provide several different services, for example, sexual health clinics or careers advice. Integrated care boards and local authorities work with local partners to understand local needs and commission services on that basis.

Nationally, we are supporting the expansion and transformation of mental health services for children and young people through the NHS Long Term Plan. As part of the accompanying investment of at least an extra £2.3 billion a year by March 2024, an additional 345,000 children and young people will be able to get the mental health support they need. We also provided an additional £79 million for 2021/22 to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community mental health services and around 2,000 more to access eating disorder services.

We are making good progress on expanding access year on year. The number of children and young people aged under 18 supported through National Health Service funded mental health with at least one contact with services was 689,621 in the year up to July 2022 compared to 618,537 in the year up to July 2021.