Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve the early identification of eating disorders in order to ensure that sufferers can access early intervention.

A pathway for adults with eating disorders, together with detailed implementation guidance for providers, will be developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence over 2017/18.

For children, NHS England, along with the NCCMH, has already published the Access and Waiting Time Standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder Commissioning Guide in 2015, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/eating-disorders/