Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to provide support for children's mental health in rural communities.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for ensuring appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of local populations. Adjustments are made in the core ICB allocations formula to allow for variation in the costs of providing health care between rural and urban areas.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to investing an additional £2.3 billion a year in mental health services by 2023/24. This increased investment will improve access to mental health services, including in rural communities. By 2023/24, a further 345,000 children and young people will be able to access National Health Service-funded mental health support. In 2021/22, we provided an additional £79 million to allow a further 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services and accelerate the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. These teams are now available for 26% of pupils and will increase to nearly 400 teams for approximately 35% of pupils by April 2023.