Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of demand for mental health services for children and young people since the start of the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps his Department is taking to (a) mitigate and (b) manage demand during that outbreak.

Mental health providers are offering support to children and young people using digital and remote approaches to continue assessment and treatment as part of the wider support across the whole system supporting children and young people including education settings, local authorities, the voluntary care sector and other services.

We are working with the National Health Service and Public Health England, service users, academics and the voluntary sector to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts of COVID-19 and plan for how to support the public’s mental health and wellbeing throughout the ‘recovery’ phase.