Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the mental health assessment pilots for looked-after children announced by her Department in November 2016 will cover both children in care and care leavers.

Care leavers’ experiences before care mean that as a group they have poorer outcomes than other young people. While the Department does not collect data on the relationship between mental health needs and outcomes, our cross-government care leaver strategy, published in July 2016, is based around five issues care leavers identified as barriers to success, including improved access to health support. We also know from our consultations with care leavers that they often find it difficult to access the right mental health support when they leave care which impacts on other areas of their lives. This includes their engagement in education, employment and training.

The Department of Health is represented on a senior Whitehall officials group on care leavers. The Department is working closely with the Department for Health, NHS England and the Expert Working Group to develop the scope of the mental health assessment pilots announced by Lord Nash on 23 November. No decisions have yet been made on the precise scope of the pilots and whether they will cover children in care and care leavers. The terms of reference of the Expert Working Group to develop mental health care pathways for looked after children explicitly include care leavers. We will act on the findings from the Expert Working Group and the mental health assessment pilots.