Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the lack of statutory regulation of child psychotherapists on patient safety.

Whilst statutory regulation is sometimes necessary where significant risks to users of services cannot be mitigated in other ways, it is not always the most proportionate or effective means of assuring the safe and effective care of service users.

For the overwhelming majority of occupational and professional groups which are not currently subject to statutory regulation, including those groups recommended by the Health and Care Professions Council for statutory regulation in the past, the accreditation of voluntary registers by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is the preferred option.

The voluntary register held by the Association of Child Psychotherapists, which is a professional body for psychoanalytic child and adolescent psychotherapists in the United Kingdom, is subject to independent annual accreditation by the PSA. Accredited registers meet demanding standards set by the PSA including those relevant to governance, the setting of standards for registrants, education and training, and managing the register. This provides the public with assurance that is appropriate and proportionate.