Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS Digital publication Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2017, what assessment he has made of the factors influencing the upward trend of 5-15 year olds reporting at least one mental health disorder.

The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England (2017) prevalence survey shows a slight rise in the prevalence of mental health conditions in children and young people, from 10.1% in 2004 to 11.2% in 2017.

Protecting the mental health of our children and young people is a top priority for this Government and is a core part of the NHS Long Term Plan. The recent Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper aims to improve provision of mental health support for all children and young people, and the proposals are based on evidence of what we know is driving the rising demand for children and young people’s mental health services. We will test, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the core proposals to ensure we learn from what works.