Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of children who needed urgent help with an eating disorder were able to access care within one week in each of the last five years in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on access to services for people with an eating disorder in those areas.

The information for Coventry North East constituency, Coventry and West Midlands is not collected in the format requested. Data for the number of urgent cases of children and young people who started treatment for eating disorders and were treated within one week in England is shown in the following table.

^{Source: Children and young people with an eating disorder waiting times, NHS England and NHS Improvement}

^Notes:

¹ total of the published quarterly figures for each year.

² number of urgent cases rather than number of people.

NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to support local health systems to develop whole pathways of care which will provide intensive local support, care and treatment closer to home, reduce the reliance on inpatient beds and provide services in line with best practice and the available evidence base. We have announced an additional £79 million to significantly expand children’s mental health services in 2021/22, allowing 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services. A further £58 million will also be allocated to accelerate adult community support and bring forward the expansion of integrated primary and secondary care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders.