Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the provision of mental health care services for children in the care system.

The Government has made no such central assessment. It is for local areas to consider and commission services based on the needs of their local population. Local transformation plans produced in each area of the country set out how they plan to meet the full spectrum of needs of children and young people with mental health problems including the needs of the most vulnerable, such as children in the care system.

At the Education Select Committee hearing on the mental health and wellbeing of looked-after children held on 3 February 2016, it was announced that the Department of Health and Department for Education will set up an Expert Group, working with NHS England, Health Education England, and sector partners, to develop care pathways to support an integrated approach to meeting the needs of looked-after children with mental health difficulties. By summer 2016 the expert group will be established to lead the development of models of care for looked-after children’s mental health. Members of this expert group will be drawn from across the health, social care and education sectors, with input from children, young people, carers and families with experience of the care system.