Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people were on waiting lists to access (1) mental health support, and (2) an inpatient mental health bed, on 1 October 2022.

The information requested is not collected as a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s mental health services has not yet been defined or set.

NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards, including that children, young people and their families presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has recently shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.