Living through the pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of people across our country, particularly children and young people, so I strongly welcome the steps the Government is taking to improve access to mental health support and services.
The NHS Long Term Plan increased investment in mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 so that an additional 345,000 children and young people are now able to get the necessary NHS-funded mental health support. Further, in 2021/22, the Government provided an additional £79 million in response to the pandemic to expand children’s mental health services in the 2021/22 financial year. Over 689,000 children and young people under 18 were supported through NHS-funded mental health community services with at least one contact in the twelve months to July 2022, compared to 615,000 for the same period to July 2021.
I note your disappointment regarding the 10-year Mental Health Plan. I would like to reassure you that all the submissions received as part of the consultation on the 10-year mental health strategy will be considered as part of the Major Conditions Strategy.
Mental ill health is one of the six major conditions included and is at the heart of the Major Conditions Strategy and will part be a joined-up strategy to ensure that mental ill health is considered alongside other physical health conditions.
Further, mental health support teams now cover 26 per cent of pupils in schools, a year earlier than originally proposed in the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35 per cent of pupils this month, with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
On average, each mental health support team will work with around 8,000 children across 10-20 schools and colleges. All schools involved will have a mental health lead. Each mental health support team is made up of education mental health practitioners and senior clinicians or higher-level therapists as well as a team manager and some admin support. The teams act as a link with local NHS children and young people’s mental health services.