Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's policy paper, COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan, updated on 1 April 2021, if he will publish the (a) baseline, (b) timeframe and (c) specific definition of access that will be applied for improving access to eating disorder services.

The timeframe for the delivery of the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan is 2021/22. NHS England and NHS Improvement publish data on the performance against the children and young people with an eating disorder (CYP ED) waiting times standard on a quarterly basis. Data for Quarter 4 2020/21 will represent the baseline for the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan deliverable in 2021/22.

Children and young people up to the age of 19 years old referred for assessment or treatment for an eating disorder should receive National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved treatment with a designated healthcare professional within one week for urgent cases and four weeks for every other case.

A national access and waiting times standard for adult eating disorder services has not yet been defined. A four-week waiting standard for adult community mental health services, including eating disorder services, is being piloted and considered as part of the Clinical Review of Standards. Further information on the specific definition of access for adult eating disorder services and a potential waiting time standard will be shared in 2021/22.