Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve waiting times for children’s mental health services.

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 too long. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to cut waiting times and ensure that people can access treatment and support earlier.

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.