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 length of waiting times for children to access treatment from CAHMS; and what criteria must be met before a child can be treated.

No assessment has been made as a national access and waiting times standard for child and adolescent mental health services has not yet been defined. There is not a nationally set or mandated clinical threshold for accessing National Health Service children and young people’s mental health services. Referral and access is based on need and clinical judgement.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its clinically-led review of NHS access standards. This includes a standard that children, young people and their families/carers presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. This consultation closed on 1 September 2021 and the outcomes will inform a recommendation to the Government on whether and how to implement this new access standard in due course.