Child mental health plans lacking ambition

The Education and Health and Social Care committees have warned that the government's proposed Green Paper on children’s mental health lacks ambition and is unlikely to provide help to the majority of those children who need it.

The committee’s joint report says that Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health is unambitious and ignores hundreds of thousands of children, warning that the long timeframes involved in the strategy will leave hundreds of thousands of children and young people unable to benefit from the proposals. The new ‘Trailblazer’ pilot projects are set to roll out in only a fifth to a quarter of the country by 2022/23.

Recognising that half of school leaders appear to have cut back on their mental health support services, the report notes how implementing a Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health will only heighten the pressures on the existing high-accountability system and may leave the CAMHS workforce overburdened by the demands of the Green Paper.

The committee’s also report that young people are also falling through the gaps and not receiving the services they need as they enter adulthood, saying the government must commit to a full assessment of the current transition arrangements between child and adult mental health services, creating a distinct and separate set of proposals for looked after children accessing mental health services.

Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, said: "The Green Paper is just not ambitious enough and will leave so many children without the care they need. It needs to go much further in considering how to prevent mental health difficulties in the first place. We want to see more evidence that government will join up services in a way which places children and young people at their heart and that improves services to all children rather than a minority."

Rob Halfon, chair of the Education Committee, added: “The government must back up its warm words by taking urgent action to address the mental health issues which children and young people face today. This strategy does not go far enough, which raises the very real prospect of hundreds of thousands of children missing out on the getting the help they so desperately need. We heard of the strong links between social disadvantage and mental health issues. If the government is serious about tackling injustices in our society, it must ensure proper targeted funding of support for those most in need. Ministers should also recognise the separate support needs of apprentices and FE students. Social media is an increasing part of young people’s lives. Given both the negative and positive impacts it can have on young people’s mental health, social media education should be made a compulsory part of PHSE in all schools."