Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to allocated grants to local (a) voluntary and (b) charity groups to support children suffering from mental health issues in the next five fiscal years.

As part of the Government’s commitment to transforming mental health, in 2019/20, £3.3 million was allocated to 23 local community projects across England to improve local access to mental health services for young people, with early intervention for those at risk of mental health problems.

In addition, the NHS Implementation Plan 2019/20 – 2023/24 (2019) sets out a commitment to involve Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations in the delivery of NHS Long Term Plan transformation programmes

We will continue to consider effective ways of doing this, including through grant allocations where the evidence shows the benefits of doing this.