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 15 October 2018 to Question 174679 on Eating Disorders, for what reasons he has no current plans to introduce a waiting time standard for adults with an eating disorder.

Mental health will be a core part of the National Health Service long-term plan, and the Department has asked NHS England to plan for significant improvements in access to good mental health services.

The waiting times targets for children and young people’s eating disorders services were developed within the context of broader improvements to children’s and young people’s mental health services following the publication of the Future in Mind report in 2015. NHS England has recently commissioned a national review of adult eating disorder services. Data collected is being reviewed with stakeholders to inform NHS England’s understanding of the finance and workforce gaps in these services.