June 2021
Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about the provision of mental health services for children and young people.
It is incredibly important that we protect and support the health of children and young people in our society especially as approximately 10% of 5 to 16-year olds have a clinically diagnosable mental health condition. In recent years we have made huge progress in understanding mental health issues, and I support efforts to transform children and young people’s mental health for the better. I am also pleased that since 2015, an additional £1.4 billion has been invested to transform children and young people’s mental health services.
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper sets out ambitious proposals to improve mental health services for children and young people, together with over £300 million of funding. This will incentivise and support schools and colleges to train designated leaders for their pupils’ mental health, and introduce new mental health teams, both of which will ease pressure on NHS mental health services.
The NHS Long Term Plan makes a commitment to offering children and young people the best start in life. As part of this, there is an additional commitment to deliver on the promises made in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health so that 70,000 more children and young people will access treatment each year by April 2021. Moreover, by 2023/2024 at least an additional 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 will be able to access support via NHS funded mental health services and school or college-based Mental Health Support Teams. In particular, I welcome the Secretary of State's announcement that £79 million from the additional £500 million for mental health announced at the 2021 Spending Review will be allocated to accelerate the commitment to expand these services.
Access to mental health support for children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak is absolutely vital. NHS services remain open and leading mental health charities have been supported to deliver additional services through the £5 million Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund. The NHS has also set up 24/7 open access telephone lines for urgent mental health support for people of all ages, for example through the Samaritans on 116 123 or through Childline on 0800 1111.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me about this important matter.
With best wishes.
Kind regards,
Jonathan Lord MP
Member of Parliament for Woking