Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to avoid detaining students with autism and learning disabilities in Assessment and Treatment Units.

Care, Education and Treatment Reviews (CETRs) have been established as the process for preventing admission or for making an effective plan for discharge for children and young people. In 2018/19 (up to the end of February 2019), 80% of pre-admission CETRs led to a decision not to admit the young person.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to keyworker support by 2024 for every child or young person with a learning disability or autism with the most complex needs who are inpatients or at risk of being admitted to hospital.

The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health commits to improve care and extend access to mental health services for 70,000 more children and young people by 2020/21. As outlined in the Long Term Plan, by 2023/24 an extra 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 will receive National Health Service-funded mental health support.