Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the evidence of a link between perinatal mental illness and emotional and behavioural problems in children, what steps he is taking to ensure the adequate identification through primary care of (a) that illness and (b) those problems.

The Department is investing £365 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 in perinatal mental health services, and NHS England is leading a transformation programme to ensure that, by 2020/21, at least 30,000 more women each year are able to access evidence-based specialist mental health care during the perinatal period.

Over £1.2 million was provided in 2017 to enable the training of primary care, maternity and mental health staff to increase awareness and skills related to perinatal mental health.

NHS England has also invested in multidisciplinary perinatal mental health clinical networks across the country to drive forward change, focusing on collaborative working to develop local, integrated pathways and support early identification of those at risk of mental illness in the perinatal period, to enable better outcomes for women in all communities.

We are expanding access to appropriate mental health support for children and young people that need it, including those with emotional and behavioural problems. Primary care is an essential part of the pathway and can assist in referring on to children and young people’s mental health services.