Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve diagnosis and treatment times in paediatric services.

We have pledged to improve health outcomes for children and young people, and there is a wide range of activity to improve the responsiveness of the National Health Service. NHS England advises this includes the establishment of a United Kingdom based proton beam therapy service, improvements in access to psychological therapies for children and young people and a redesign of genetic testing services that will build upon the 100,000 genome project and enable faster access to test results.

We have invested £3 million in MindEd, which provides clear guidance on children and young people's mental health, so that people working with children can recognise when a child needs help and make sure they get it at an early stage.

We have also given £2 million for the development by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health of Paediatric Care online, a resource for the clinical workforce across the full range of children’s health issues, which promises to have a far-reaching impact on ensuring the effectiveness and consistency of paediatric care. This will be launched later in 2015.

Following an in-depth look at mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the Government has set out a blue-print for improving care over the next five years. The Government report of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Well-Being Taskforce’s findings, Future in mind, published on 17 March 2015, sets out a clear national ambition in the form of key aspirations that the Government would wish to see by 2020.

As part of the Autumn Statement 2014, it was announced the Government will invest £150 million over the next five years in England to improve services for children and young people with mental health problems. We will place particular emphasis on eating disorders. We will make sure that children and young people with an eating disorder get specialist help when they need it and in the community.

The Deputy Prime Minister announced on 14 March that £1.25 billion additional funding would be available over the next five years to fund improved access for children and young people with mental health problems - at least 100,000 more children and young people will receive treatment by 2020 and the funding will pay for the introduction of new access and waiting time standards.