Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the Royal College of Psychiatrists on 2 March that the NHS is "facing an eating disorders crisis", due to a 51 per cent increase in children and young people requiring specialist services; and what steps they will take to ensure that there is no regional disparity in the services offered.

Under the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government has earmarked additional funding to bolster existing mental health services, including eating disorder services, until 2023/24. Since 2016, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year, with an extra £54 million per year from 2023/24. This extra funding continues to enhance the capacity of community eating disorder teams across the country. We expect integrated care boards to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard so that investment in mental health services increases in line with their overall increase in allocation for that year.

NHS England continues to work with system leaders and regions and to ask that areas prioritise service delivery and investment to meet the needs of these vulnerable young people to help ensure funding flows to these services as intended. To support this, NHS England is refreshing guidance on children and young people's eating disorders, including to increase the focus on early identification and intervention. The updated guidance will highlight the importance of improved integration between dedicated community eating disorder services, wider children and young people's mental health services, schools, colleges, and primary care to improve awareness, provide expert advice and improve support for children and young people presenting with problems with eating, whilst ensuring swift access to specialist support as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.