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 the level of demand for mental health services by (a) children under the age of 16 and (b) 16 to 18 year olds.

No specific assessment has been made.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan we will invest at least an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24, which will see a further 345,000 children and young people a year able to access support through National Health Service-funded services including school and college-based mental health support teams by 2023/24. We have also announced an additional £79 million in this financial year to significantly accelerate the planned expansion of children and young people’s mental health services.