Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2022 to Question 99933 on Mental Health Services: Children and Young People, whether he plans to introduce waiting time standards for children and young people's mental health services for (a) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessments, (b) autism assessments and (c) other assessments carried out by those services; what estimate he has made of the level of workforce required to meet (i) current and (ii) future demand for assessments carried out by those services; and if he will make a statement.

We have no plans to do so. We have also made no such estimates as this would be a matter for local commissioners and service providers.

We are committed to ensuring people, including children and young people, can access attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessments in a timely way and in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline NG87: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management. We are looking at how we can best achieve this.

The waiting time standard for an autism assessment recommended by NICE is for a maximum waiting time of 13 weeks between a referral for assessment and a first appointment. We expect integrated care boards and providers to have due regard to NICE’s guidelines.