Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken through the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 to help improve young people’s access to mental health support in (a) schools and (b) 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.