Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Niche reports on the deaths of three teenage girls in the care of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust published on 2 November 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of mental health services for children and young people; and whether he will publish a statement.

We are working with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and mental health providers to ensure that all adults and children and young people being treated in such settings receive safe, high-quality and compassionate care and are treated with dignity and respect.

Whilst the Department has made no such specific assessment, NHS England has established the National Quality Improvement Taskforce to improve specialist children and young people’s inpatient mental health, autism and learning disability services in England. The Taskforce is expected to complete its work in spring 2023.

The CQC has introduced a new single assessment framework to target more frequent inspections at the worst-performing service providers. The new framework contains six evidence categories which states the type of evidence the CQC will collect which form a picture of the quality of care and improve the consistency of its judgements.