Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Education Policy Institute Access to children and young people's mental health services—2018, published 7 October, which states that the number of referrals to specialist child and adolescent mental health services in England has increased by 26 per cent over the last five years.

It is not possible to assess any meaningful trend in referral data. The current data available through the mental health services monthly statistics releases are experimental data and the data quality and coverage is improving over time.

The information in the Education Policy Institute’s report is based on 54 Freedom of Information responses. We cannot be certain whether the 54 responses received are representative of all providers. It is difficult therefore to be confident in the rise in referrals suggested in the report.