Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to maintain the current level of funding of child and adolescent mental health services.

Commissioning of child and adolescent health services (CAMHS) in England is complex, with responsibility divided between NHS England, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), local authorities and schools.

In the Spring Budget in March 2015 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £1.25 billion over the next five years for children and young people’s mental health.

Priorities for CCG expenditure are for local determination. However, the 2015/16 planning guidance from NHS England states that: “every CCG will be expected to use its extra funding to increase funding for local mental health services in real terms next year by at least the level of the CCG’s overall funding growth.” In addition, new guidance to CCGs on local transformation plans for children and young people’s mental health will require that local partners be transparent on local activity, workforce and spend on CAMHS.

The priority for NHS England, which is responsible for the commissioning of the Tier 4 in-patient beds, is to focus on improving access to these services when they are required.