Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he had made of the adequacy of access for (a) children and (b) adults to NHS mental health services.

While no recent assessment has been made, access to services is monitored through the National Health Service mental health dashboard. This records data on the number of children and young people under 18 years old accessing support through NHS-funded community services and the number of adults entering Improving Access to Psychological Therapies in each reporting period.

We are investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year in mental health services in England by 2023/24 to enable an extra two million people in England to access NHS-funded mental health support. In addition, we are making an additional £500 million available in 2021/22. Of this funding, we have invested an additional £79 million to expand children’s and young people’s mental health services and reduce waiting times and £110 million for adult mental health services, including talking and psychological therapies. We will also invest £87 million to provide enhanced discharge from inpatient mental health care, offering additional support for recovery in the community.