Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings on children's mental and physical health in Poverty dynamics and health in late childhood in the UK: evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study, published by the British Medical Journal on June 11th 2019; and if he will make a statement.

There has been no current assessment of this report. The evidence is clear that income and physical and mental health outcomes are closely associated. The NHS Long Term Plan for the National Health Service, backed by an extra £33.9 billion a year in cash terms by 2023/24, puts prevention at its heart and early intervention is key. The Government is supporting this with an additional £2.3 billion a year to expand mental health services and help ensure 345,000 more children and young people under 25 receive mental health support by 2023/24. Tackling the root cause of poverty remains a priority for this Government and some families need more support. The Government is continuing to spend £95 billion a year on working-age benefits and provide free school meals to more than one million of the country’s most disadvantaged children.