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 support children with neurodevelopmental conditions to access mental health services.

Children and young people with neurodevelopmental conditions should be able to access timely and quality mental health support. We expect services to make reasonable adjustments and provide care tailored to neurodivergent children, including through accessible communication and environments. We are also working to improve coordination between mental health, neurodevelopmental, education, and wider children’s services, so that children receive timely support and are not passed between services.

We are also developing a new cross-Government Mental Health Strategy for England, which will reflect the mental health needs of autistic people and people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including where mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions overlap, with a focus on more integrated, equitable, and tailored support. The strategy will be informed by the findings and recommendations of the independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism. The review is considering how support can be provided earlier and more effectively, including whether diagnosis has too often become the main gateway to help and how people can receive practical support based on need before and alongside diagnosis.