Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for children receiving initial mental health treatment in West Yorkshire.

Protecting our children’s mental health is a priority for this Government and a core part of the NHS Long Term Plan. The National Health Service has set a goal of an extra 345,000 children and young people, aged 0-25, receiving support via NHS-funded mental health services by 2023/24.

Close to 325,000 children and young people have been treated through NHS commissioned community services in 2017/18. We are on track to deliver the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health’s commitment to improve care and extend access to 70,000 more children and young people by 2020/21.

The recent ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a Green Paper’ aims to improve provision of support for all children and young people through its three key proposals:

- Incentivising every school/college to identify and train Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health;

- Creating new Mental Health Support Teams in/around schools; and

- Piloting a four-week waiting time for specialist NHS services.

Clinical commissioning groups in West Yorkshire are responsible for ensuring adequate access to mental health treatment locally.