Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the increase in demand for child and adolescent mental health following the launch of the MindEd e-portal; and what steps it is taking to accommodate that increase.

Norman Lamb

The Department has not made an estimate of the increase in demand for child and adolescent mental health following the launch of the MindEd e-portal on 25 March 2014.

We know that many schools want to do more to help children who are, or may be, experiencing mental health problems. Many now have their own programmes and mental health support – such as a school-based counsellor, whilst others have whole school approaches to mental and emotional health. We want to ensure that such programmes offer the best support possible, but also that schools are better able to identify mental health problems in their pupils sooner.

The Department funded the MindEd website which will help anyone working with children, including all school staff, to spot the signs of mental health problems in children and help them get the support they need. Spotting the signs of mental health problems early in children and young people is essential to prevent problems from escalating and continuing into adulthood.

The Chief Medical Officer has recommended better data on children and young people’s mental health. The Department, with arms lengths bodies (ALBs) and other key partners, is currently looking at the options available for arranging a survey of children and young people to look at prevalence of mental health conditions. We are seeking advice from colleagues in the Department’s Health and Social Care Information Centre to consider options for the survey, and what such a survey would be able to tell us.