Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that clinical commissioning groups spend funds allocated for children and young people’s mental health services on those services.

It is not always possible to track actual expenditure on specific services against all funds allocated for those services. However, we can confirm that the clinical commissioning group spend on children and young people’s mental health has increased, rising from £516 million in 2015/16, to £619 million in 2016/17 and to £687 million in 2017/18.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2017-2019 makes it clear that additional transformation funding for mental health care made available to support the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health should “not be used to supplant existing spend or balance reductions elsewhere”.

This requirement applies to deliverables for improved children and young people’s mental health services as well as for adult services.