Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much money from the public purse was spent by local authorities in England on services (a) promoting and (b) providing services for children and young people’s mental health in 2018-19.

Funding for local government services, including children’s services, is set at Spending Review and made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement. This funding is largely unringfenced, enabling local authorities to target spending according to local needs. Local authorities used this flexibility to increase spending on children and young people’s services from £9 billion in 2015-16 to around £9.4 billion in 2017-18.

We do not hold data for 2018-19 or for local authorities spend on services for children and young people’s mental health. Nevertheless, the statutory guidance sets out local authorities’ duty to make sure each child they look after has a health assessment of their physical, emotional and mental health needs. The health and care system is responsible for providing this assessment.