Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of hospital admissions of children with eating disorders.

The attached table shows the trend of levels of hospital admissions of children aged 0 to 17 years old with eating disorders in 2019/20 and 2020/21.

We are investing an extra £79 million in 2021/22 to expand children’s mental health services, including enabling 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have announced a further £40 million in 2021/22 to address the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people’s mental health, including for eating disorders. Of this, £10 million capital funding is being used to provide extra beds at units which provide care for young people with the most complex needs, including eating disorders.