Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to ensure young people can access mental health support in the community.

On 5 March, we announced an additional £79 million to expand children’s mental health services in 2021/22. This will allow approximately 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. We are also committed to investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24. This will enable an extra two million people in England, including 345,000 more children and young people, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support.

Following the Spending Review, funding allocations, including the provision to different service areas and regions in England, will be announced in due course.