Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the average waiting time between referral to, and treatment by, child and adolescent mental health services since 23 March 2020; and what was the average such time from 23 March 2019 to 22 March 2020.

The information requested is not held. In order to measure waiting times to mental health services, or to determine if an assessment took place after the patient entered treatment, an access and waiting times standard for the service must be defined for analysis purposes. A national access and waiting times standard has not yet been defined for child and adolescent mental health services.