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 support mental health services for children and young people living in rural areas.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local populations. There are a range of adjustments made in the core ICB allocations formula to account for the fact that the costs of providing health care may vary between rural and urban areas.

We are supporting ICBs to expand mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan, which commits to investing an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by March 2024. This increased investment will improve access to mental health services, including for people in rural areas. Through the Long Term Plan, by March 2024, 345,000 more children and young people will be able to access National Health Service funded mental health support.

We are continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams to schools and colleges in England.  There are 3.4 million pupils/learners who were covered by a Mental Health Support Team in 2022/23, which equates to 35% coverage of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England. We expect there to be approximately 500 Mental Health Support Teams up and running by 2024, covering around 44% of pupils.