Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is available for parents and carers of children with a diagnosable mental health disorder in each region; what plans he has to provide additional support; and what steps he is taking to ensure joined up working between school and healthcare settings to improve the effectiveness of current levels of support.

Data on the support available for parents and carers of children with a diagnosable mental health disorder is not collected by the Department.

The Department is committed to ensuring carers can continue to give care as they wish. Last summer, the Department published the Carers Action Plan which gives visibility to the work that is being done or is planned across government to support carers. In the plan the Department has committed to funding a project to support parent carers navigate the transition from child to adult services as their child approaches 18.

‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper’, published by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education in December 2017, also ensures joined up working between school and healthcare settings through its proposals to create new Mental Health Support Teams in and around schools, and incentivising every school and college to identify and train a Senior Mental Health Lead. Mental Health Support Teams, the first cohort of which started training in January 2019, will work closely with parents and carers to support their children with their mental health. This will include working directly with parents on evidence-based interventions, such as parent-led cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety or assisting with parent training for conduct problems, as well as supporting parents where interventions are delivered directly to children and young people, to help them support their children.

Public Health England's Start4Life information service for parents is a programme that helps parents adopt healthy behaviours, including providing advice and practical guidance on promoting the mental health of babies and pre-school age children. Further information is available at the following link:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/2-start4life/overview