Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department is supporting schools in West Dorset constituency to provide mental health support for children on the child and adolescent mental health services waiting list.

For children and young people in distress or struggling with their mental health, fast access to early, high-quality support is critical, including in West Dorset.

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 roll out mental health support teams in schools and colleges, to reach full national coverage by 2029.

The 10-Year Health Plan will build on the work that has already begun to bring down waiting lists. This includes providing mental health support for almost one million more young people in school this year and an extra £688 million in Government funding this year to transform mental health services, specifically to hire more staff, deliver more early interventions, and get waiting lists down.