Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of access to CAMHS services for special educational needs and disabilities children in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning National Health Service mental health services to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities across Lincolnshire.
The 10-Year Health Plan for England sets out how we will work with schools and colleges to better identify and meet children's mental health needs by delivering mental health support teams to cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30.
It also sets out the core principle of early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis, and that this particularly applies for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. In the autumn, the Government will bring forward a white paper for schools setting out the Government’s approach to special educational needs and disabilities reform, ensuring joined-up support for children and young people. This will include education and healthcare providers working together with other local services to plan and deliver evidence-based early interventions for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement a national youth health strategy to reduce mortality in people under 39 that includes (a) mental health conditions and (b) sudden cardiac death.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is already taking action to improve the physical and mental health of young people. The Government is co-producing a National Youth Strategy which will set out a long-term vision for young people, aged 10 to 21 years old, and up to 25 years old for those with special educational needs and disabilities, and provide them with meaningful choices and chances.
The 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service will make it fit for the future and better support children, young people, and adults. The Government is committed to taking a cross-Government strategic approach to children and young people’s mental health, and will recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff by the end of the Parliament and will expand mental health support teams in schools in England.
NHS England is currently working with a range of stakeholders to review the national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions. This will support patients who often present as young adults with a previously undiagnosed cardiac disease, or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause, including sudden cardiac death. The service specification can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf
There are no current plans to implement a national youth health strategy.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
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 reduce the number of mental health conditions among young people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government is recruiting 8,500 mental health workers to help ease pressure on busy mental health services.
The Government is investing an extra £688 million this year to transform mental health services, including reducing the number of children with mental health problems.
The 2025 Spending Review and the NHS 10-Year Health Plan confirmed that we will fulfil our commitment to provide access to mental health support within schools in England by expanding mental health support teams to cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30. This expansion will ensure that up to 900,000 more children and young people will have access to support from trained education mental health practitioners in 2025/26.
Additionally, we are continuing to provide top-up funding of £7 million to the 24 Early Support Hubs to expand their services, and will take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services in 2025/26. This new 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: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that integrated care boards (1) better assess the mental health needs of young people, and (2) provide more integrated community based mental health support for young people; and what plans they have to publish statutory guidance for integrated care boards in this area.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for determining and meeting the mental health needs of the young people in their local populations, and there are no plans to publish statutory guidance in this area. The Department expects integrated care boards to continue to improve access to community-based mental health support for children and young people under our plans to shift more care out of hospitals and into the community, under the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) a hub and spoke model and (b) the utilisation of detached youth work within Young Futures Hubs on (i) outreach and (ii) access for young people.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across several departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. We are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery. This includes considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas and will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how local areas will be supported to implement Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across several departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. We are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery. This includes considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas and will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of long-term mental health conditions starting in childhood on employment rates amongst those young people.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DfE published statistics estimated that in 2024 over 1 in 6 young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) had a mental health condition compared with 1 in 13 in 20122.
As part of our mission driven Government, regular cross-Government collaboration takes place at both Ministerial and official level. The Government has an ambitious goal of an 80% employment rate: we do not want to just support people who are closest to the labour market nearer towards it, but focus on the people who, and the places that are, furthest away from the labour market. A crucial part of this is improving the support that we offer to those with mental health conditions. Current measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.
Building on our WorkWell, Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies and Connect to Work programmes, we will ensure people with a health condition have access to the holistic support they need. In the Government’s Pathways to Work green paper, we further committed to developing a support guarantee, so that disabled people and those with a health condition, including those with mental health conditions get the work, health and skills support they need to access and thrive in employment. We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision.
1 Is work good for your health and well-being? An independent review - GOV.UK
2 NEET age 16 to 24, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential impact of early years support on long-term mental health barriers to employment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DfE published statistics estimated that in 2024 over 1 in 6 young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) had a mental health condition compared with 1 in 13 in 20122.
As part of our mission driven Government, regular cross-Government collaboration takes place at both Ministerial and official level. The Government has an ambitious goal of an 80% employment rate: we do not want to just support people who are closest to the labour market nearer towards it, but focus on the people who, and the places that are, furthest away from the labour market. A crucial part of this is improving the support that we offer to those with mental health conditions. Current measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.
Building on our WorkWell, Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies and Connect to Work programmes, we will ensure people with a health condition have access to the holistic support they need. In the Government’s Pathways to Work green paper, we further committed to developing a support guarantee, so that disabled people and those with a health condition, including those with mental health conditions get the work, health and skills support they need to access and thrive in employment. We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision.
1 Is work good for your health and well-being? An independent review - GOV.UK
2 NEET age 16 to 24, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that mental health support is available in all primary and secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.
The government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. By April 2026, the department estimates that 60% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST, up from 52% in April 2025.
The government will also recruit 8,500 mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support.
To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, such as a resource hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that parliamentary scrutiny of child and young people's mental health policy is supported by transparent ministerial accountability in the House of Commons.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers in the Department take their accountability to Parliament very seriously and we welcome the role of hon. Members in championing the interests of children, young people and their families, raising awareness of the issues affecting their mental health and in scrutinising our policies and holding the Government to account.
Parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s policies on children and young people's mental health is evidenced through our written ministerial statements, including the statement made on 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, our contributions to debates such as the one on Eating Disorder Awareness that took place on 1 April 2025, in our evidence to committees, our responses to Members’ oral and written questions and through the House’s scrutiny of the Mental Health Bill during its first and second readings and its recently completed committee stage.