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 (a) improve child and adolescent mental health services and (b) increase the speed of diagnosis for (i) ADHD and (ii) autism.

Too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. We are determined to change that. We will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across children and adult services to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and introduce open access Young Futures hubs in every community.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people and adults referred to an autism assessment service. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.

We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England has established to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD including timely access to services and support.

In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England is carrying out detailed work to develop a data improvement plan, understand the provider and commissioning landscape and capture examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services.