Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of providing additional funding for early mental health interventions for (a) children and (b) young people in (i) Surrey Heath constituency and (ii) Surrey on long-term costs to the public purse.

The Department recognises that, for children and young people in distress or struggling with their mental health, fast access to early, high-quality support is critical. By intervening earlier, common mental health conditions can be prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life and which require more costly interventions.

That is why the 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will work with schools and colleges to better identify and meet children's mental health needs by continuing to fund the roll out of mental health support teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2030 and embedding support for young people’s mental health in the new Young Futures Hubs, to ensure there is no 'wrong front door' for people seeking help. At the end of March 2025, 44% of pupils and learners in the hon. Member’s constituency and 27% across the whole of Surrey were covered by a mental health support team.

Additionally, we are continuing to provide top-up funding of £7 million to 24 existing early support hubs in 2025-26 to expand their services and take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services. This funding will enable the supported hubs to deliver at least 10,000 additional mental health and wellbeing interventions, so that more children and young people are supported.