Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on people that suffer from eating disorders.

We have not made such an assessment. However, we recognise the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing and self-isolation measures will impact the mental health and wellbeing of the population. This impact may be greater for some vulnerable people, particularly for those with pre-existing mental health conditions such as eating disorders.

Since March, we have announced over £9 million of funding support for mental health charities supporting vulnerable people through the COVID-19 pandemic. We are delighted that the eating disorder charity Beat has been awarded grant funding through this process to continue the valuable work it does in supporting people with eating disorders.

Mental health services are open and working to support people with mental health issues through the coronavirus pandemic and NHS England has instructed all National Health Service mental health trusts to establish 24 hours a day, seven days a week mental health crisis lines for urgent NHS mental health support, including for people with eating disorders.