Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of working with comparator countries to understand causal factors in trends of mental health disorders in children and young people.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst there has not been a formal assessment of the trends in children and young people’s mental health problems in England compared to other countries, work continues with partners across the United Kingdom and internationally on a range of issues relating to mental health, including mental health disorders in children and young people.
Through resources such as the Global Burden of Disease study, we closely monitor international policy developments in mental health to harness insights. For example, the six new 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres being piloted across England are inspired by the community model of mental health care originally pioneered in Trieste, Italy.
Estimates of the rates and trends in the prevalence of adults’ and children and young people’s mental health problems are reported in the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey series and the Mental Health of Children and Young People Survey series.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 the trend of mental health disorders in children and young people in England in relation to the trend in poor mental health in adults.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst there has not been a formal assessment of the trends in children and young people’s mental health problems in England compared to other countries, work continues with partners across the United Kingdom and internationally on a range of issues relating to mental health, including mental health disorders in children and young people.
Through resources such as the Global Burden of Disease study, we closely monitor international policy developments in mental health to harness insights. For example, the six new 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres being piloted across England are inspired by the community model of mental health care originally pioneered in Trieste, Italy.
Estimates of the rates and trends in the prevalence of adults’ and children and young people’s mental health problems are reported in the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey series and the Mental Health of Children and Young People Survey series.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 the trends of mental health disorders in children and young people in England compared to other comparator countries.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst there has not been a formal assessment of the trends in children and young people’s mental health problems in England compared to other countries, work continues with partners across the United Kingdom and internationally on a range of issues relating to mental health, including mental health disorders in children and young people.
Through resources such as the Global Burden of Disease study, we closely monitor international policy developments in mental health to harness insights. For example, the six new 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres being piloted across England are inspired by the community model of mental health care originally pioneered in Trieste, Italy.
Estimates of the rates and trends in the prevalence of adults’ and children and young people’s mental health problems are reported in the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey series and the Mental Health of Children and Young People Survey series.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children died while receiving inpatient mental health care in each year since 2010; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that (a) these deaths are properly (i) recorded and (ii) investigated and (b) future deaths are prevented.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2013, there has been a total of 40 deaths of young people aged under 18 years old in contact with Tier 4 inpatient children and young people’s mental health services, including those on home leave, or who had absconded. We are unable to provide the information broken down by year as requested, as the annual data held by NHS England includes a small patient count of fewer than five cases which could lead to the identification of individuals. Data is not available prior to 2013.
All deaths of children and young people under the care of Tier 4 services are routinely reported to the Department via NHS England. Such deaths are also notified to the Care Quality Commission and the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health.
With regards to investigating inpatient deaths, the NHS Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), introduced in August 2022, promotes four core principles to inform learning from safety events: compassionate engagement; systems-based learning; proportionate responses; and supportive oversight. While PSIRF represents a significant improvement to the way that the National Health Service responds to patient safety incidents, it does not alter the requirements set out in the National Learning from Deaths policy framework. These require a patient safety incident investigation to be undertaken into any event where problems in care are thought more likely than not to have led to the death of a patient.
To help ensure that future deaths are prevented, NHS England has radically redesigned the children and young people’s inpatient model of care, working in partnership with hundreds of children, young people, and their families. One of the key recommendations from working with families through the Quality Transformation Programme was to change the service model to enable families to stay overnight at inpatient services to maintain the connection with their loved one and, critically, to ensure that the delivery of care at a point during a crisis is seen as being delivered to the young person, as well as their family and support network. These recommendations have been built into the new service model. NHS England is in the process of testing the new service model through the use of a development service specification.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the most recent National Study of Health and Wellbeing.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The latest prevalence data from the National Study of Health and Wellbeing (also known as the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey) found that 1 in 5 adults in England were experiencing a common mental health condition in 2023/24, up from 1 in 6 a decade ago.
Through our Plan for Change, we are committed to working beyond the health system to tackle the drivers of mental ill health. For example, recently announced welfare legislation is getting more people with health conditions back into work, backed by £1 billion of investment to unlock opportunity and grow the economy.
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out a number of important initiatives that will help tackle the rising prevalence of mental ill health by intervening earlier when problems first arise. This includes expanding access to mental health support teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage across England by 2030, embedding mental health support in Young Futures Hubs and making it easier than ever to access mental health support via the NHS App.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support parents whose child is diagnosed with a serious or life-limiting illness.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As per Section 97 (3b) of the Children’s and Families Act 2014, parent carers have the right to request an assessment of their need for support from the local authority. Having been assessed, Section 17 (10b) of the Children’s Acts 1989 makes provision for a child whose physical or mental health is impaired, as well as his or her family, to receive the appropriate support services from the local authority.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to assess the social care needs of children and young people with serious or life-limiting illness, and to provide respite care where necessary. Local authorities and integrated care boards regularly liaise to plan and commission the most appropriate package of short breaks for the children and young people with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition in their area.
The statutory guidance on palliative and end of life care produced by NHS England states that the core responsibility for commissioners is to commission high-quality, safe services that are tailored to the needs of the individual. The duty is intended to ensure that those of all ages with palliative and end of life care needs, with progressive illness or those nearing the end of their lives, as well as their loved ones and carers, receive the care and support they need to live and to die well.
I am pleased to confirm the continuation of children’s hospice funding for the next three financial years, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children’s hospices in England each year, via their local integrated care boards on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve coordination between children’s and adult mental health services to support young people transitioning between them.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A key priority for children and young people’s (CYP) mental health services is ensuring continuity of care and a smooth transition for patients moving to adult services.
NHS England released funding in 2022/23 to improve, transform and focus improvement on the young adult mental health pathway. As of 2024/25, the majority of integrated care boards report that they have improved the way that they manage transitions to adult services, including removing rigid age-based thresholds for transition and ensuring that there are strong working relationships and embedded shared responsibility between CYP and adults’ mental health services.
NHS England is developing a personalised care framework which sets out the core principles of care that people should expect when accessing mental health services. This will be applicable across CYP and adults’ services to ensure that transitions are smooth and care is consistent across settings.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of providing additional funding for early mental health interventions for (a) children and (b) young people in (i) Surrey Heath constituency and (ii) Surrey on long-term costs to the public purse.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that, for children and young people in distress or struggling with their mental health, fast access to early, high-quality support is critical. By intervening earlier, common mental health conditions can be prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life and which require more costly interventions.
That is why the 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will work with schools and colleges to better identify and meet children's mental health needs by continuing to fund the roll out of mental health support teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2030 and embedding support for young people’s mental health in the new Young Futures Hubs, to ensure there is no 'wrong front door' for people seeking help. At the end of March 2025, 44% of pupils and learners in the hon. Member’s constituency and 27% across the whole of Surrey were covered by a mental health support team.
Additionally, we are continuing to provide top-up funding of £7 million to 24 existing early support hubs in 2025-26 to expand their services and take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services. This funding will enable the supported hubs to deliver at least 10,000 additional mental health and wellbeing interventions, so that more children and young people are supported.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
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 disparities between (a) regions and (b) urban and rural areas in the level of mental health among young people.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department routinely monitors mental health inequalities through robust population-based prevalence surveys. The National Health Service Mental Health of Children and Young People Survey (MHCYPS) provides critical insights into youth mental health prevalence and associated risk factors. The 2020 survey found significant regional variation in the prevalence of probable mental disorders in children aged between five and 16 in England, ranging from 10.0% in London to 20.5% in the West Midlands.
For adults, the 2023/24 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, which covers people aged 16 and over, also found regional differences in common mental health conditions. People in the North East (24.6%) and East Midlands (24.6%) were more likely to have a common mental health condition than those in the South East (16.3%) and South West (18.7%).
Narrowing mental health inequalities is a key commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan. We are piloting neighbourhood mental health centres around the country, in both rural and urban areas, and making it easier than ever before to receive mental health support via the NHS app.
Asked by: Andy MacNae (Labour - Rossendale and Darwen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential benefit to children of having access to (a) green spaces, (b) blue spaces and (c) other types of nature as part of their education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department knows that a connection with nature is vital for young people, not only for their mental and physical health but in developing a deeper understanding of the important role nature plays in the protection of our planet.
There is a growing body of evidence showing a link between greener school settings and a range of benefits for children, including improved learning outcomes, behaviour, concentration, and engagement (Public Health England, 2020). Officials work closely with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Natural England to gain insight into children’s access to nature. The department has been working with the University of Oxford on research to assess the impact of nature-based programmes delivered through secondary schools.
The National Education Nature Park, a key initiative of the department’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, empowers children and young people across England to benefit from connecting with nature regardless of their background or where they live. It brings learning to life and develops essential skills for the future.