Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of school aged pupils experiencing a mental health issue; and how that figure informed the additional £79 million investment in specialist mental health support pledged in the Opportunity for All White Paper.

The Department estimates that approximately one in six or 17.4% of children aged between six and 16 years old had a probable mental health disorder in 2021 - an increase from one in nine or 11.6% in 2017. The investment in specialist mental health support was informed by the prevalence figure for 2020 of approximately one in six children aged between six and 16 years old having a probable mental health disorder.