Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) children and (b) young people showing indication for depression that would identify them in need of support; and how those figures compare to pre-pandemic levels.

While no specific assessment has been made, access to children and young people’s mental health services is monitored through the National Health Service Mental Health Dashboard. This records data on the number of children and young people under 18 years old accessing support from NHS-funded community services. We also monitor population prevalence of different conditions through periodic surveys.

However, children and young and young people with symptoms of depression may report to primary or secondary care, or to some schools’ services, such as mental health support teams. There is no single dataset for children and young people with symptoms of depression presenting to these services, by condition.

‘Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2021 - wave 2 follow up to the 2017 survey’, published by NHS Digital in September 2021, found that approximately 17.4% of children aged between 6 and 16 years old had a probable mental health disorder in 2021. However, it is not possible to compare rates of depression to those identified in the 2017 survey as the 2021 data does not record the specific condition.