We have always believed that anyone who wants to, and can benefit from it, should get access to a world-class higher education. Since we took over from Labour, 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds are 82% more likely to enter full-time higher education—that is for 2021 compared with 2010. Our reforms will make student loans more sustainable and fairer for graduates and taxpayers, and will help to boost learning across a lifetime, not just in universities. A full equality impact assessment of the changes has been conducted and was published on 24 February.

What assessment she has made of the potential effect of changes to student finance rules on young people’s social mobility.

In his autumn statement, the Chancellor spoke for nearly an hour but failed to mention students once. The Office for National Statistics reports that three in 10 students are skipping lectures to save money and a quarter have taken on new debt because of the dire economic situation. Why are the Government neglecting students who are buckling under the pressure of the cost of living crisis?

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to her new role and wish her all success. I strongly

support the reforms to make the student loan repayment system fairer for students so that graduates will no longer repay more than they have borrowed in real terms. That is good news. Does she agree that Conservative Governments have delivered on our commitment to address student loan interest rates?

No young people aged eighteen or younger have undertaken work experience in the FCDO's UK offices in the last 12 months.

The information on work experience undertaken in the FCDO's Overseas Posts is not readily available/held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

There are no national minimum thresholds or criteria for referrals to children and young people’s mental health services. Access to these services is managed by local integrated care systems, based on clinical need and the choices of service users.

We are investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24, which will allow an additional 345,000 children and young people to access mental health support, including for anxiety disorders.

In 2021/22, we provided an additional £500 million to expand mental health service provision and to target groups whose mental health have been most affected by the pandemic, including young people. Of this, £79 million was allocated to children’s mental health services to accelerate the launch of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. These teams provide interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Mental health support teams are currently available for approximately 25% of pupils, with a planned increase to 35% by 2023/24.

We have confirmed funding to build 40 new hospitals, including two in Dorset which will deliver mental health services. We also launched a competition for a further eight hospitals, a proportion of which will be mental health hospitals. However, there are no plans for new hospitals specifically to deliver tier four children and adolescent mental health services.

NHS England commissions tier four children and adolescent mental health services from over 50 mental health providers, which operate within National Health Service and independent hospitals in England. There are no current plans to expand the provision of such services.

We are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year to enable a further two million people in England, including 345,000 young people, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support by 2023/24.

In 2021/22, we also provided £500 million to target those groups most affected by the pandemic, including children and young people.  Of this funding, £79 million was allocated to allow approximately 22,500 additional children and young people to access community health services; a further 2,000 to access eating disorder services; and accelerate the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. We have also invested £13 million to ensure young adults aged 18 to 25 years old, including university students, can receive tailored mental health support.

There are currently 287 mental health support teams in place in approximately 4,700 schools and colleges, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression and other common mental health issues. This will increase to 399 teams, covering 35% of pupils, by April 2023, with more than 500 teams planned by 2024.

In February, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services. This includes a standard for children, young people and their families or carers presenting to community-based mental health services, should receive care within four weeks from referral. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.

This information is not held in the format requested as there are currently no waiting time standards for these services. Data is available where a waiting time standard is in place, including early intervention in psychosis and children and young people’s eating disorder service, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/

In February 2022, NHS England published the outcome of a consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, including for children, young people and their families and carers presenting to community-based mental health services to receive care within four weeks from referral. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.

It is for local commissioners to allocate funding to meet the needs of children and young people in the local population, including in Cheshire. Through the Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS), local National Health Service organisations must increase the planned spending on mental health services by a greater proportion than its overall increase in budget allocation each year. All clinical commissioning groups met the MHIS in 2020/21.

We have also committed to invest an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24 to ensure an additional 345,000 children and young people will have access to mental health services.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In 2020/21, the NIHR’s expenditure on mental health research was £109 million. While it is not usual practice for the NIHR to ring-fence funding for particular topics or conditions, it welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including eating disorders.

Since 2016, we have increased investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services, with an additional £53 million per year from 2021/22 to enhance the capacity of the 70 new or improved community eating disorder teams in England.

No specific estimate has been made, as there are no overall waiting time standards. However, data on waiting times is available for mental health services where a waiting time standard is in place, which includes access to psychological therapies, early intervention in psychosis and children and young people eating disorders. This data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/

In February 2022, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential introduction of five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services. We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement on the next steps.

We will engage with those providing support on suicide prevention, including organisations which support children and young people’s mental health, in determining the priorities for thee new suicide prevention plan. This will consider the evidence base for those most at risk of suicide and tackling suicide rates in different age groups, including children and young people.

There are no current plans to bring forward specific legislative proposals.

The Government has launched a public call for evidence to support the development of a new cross-Government 10 year plan for mental health, including supporting children and young people’s mental health. The call for evidence is open until 7 July 2022 and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/mental-health-and-wellbeing-plan-discussion-paper-and-call-for-evidence

While we have no specific plans to do so, we are increasing funding for mental health services by an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24, which will allow at least 345,000 additional children and young people to access to National Health Service-funded mental health support. In 2021/22, we provided a further £79 million in response to the pandemic and expand children’s mental health services. This has accelerated the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, with 287 teams in place in approximately 4,700 schools and colleges. Where established in schools and colleges, mental health support teams are expected to be available at all times of the year.

The online Every Mind Matters campaign also raises awareness of the guidance and tools available to support children and young people’s mental wellbeing and ensure that those who need urgent support are directed towards the appropriate services.

The information requested is not collected centrally. Skin conditions are predominantly treated in a primary care setting, for which data is not collected. While the most severe cases or those requiring inpatient procedures would require treatment in a secondary care setting, NHS Digital provisionally estimates that in 2021/2022, pilonidal cysts were the most common skin condition requiring hospital admission in people under the age of 21 years old.

We are investing at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to support an additional 345,000 children and young people to access National Health Service-funded mental health services. There are currently 287 mental health support teams supporting children experiencing anxiety, depression and other common mental health issues in approximately 4,700 schools and colleges. This will increase to over 500 teams, providing services to approximately 35% of pupils by 2023/24. We have also launched a call for evidence to support the development of a new 10-year cross-Government plan for mental health and wellbeing in England, including children and young people’s mental health.

No specific estimate has been made. However, the NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan states that the mental health workforce should increase by over 27,000 by 2023/24, including roles to support children and young people. We will work with NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England to develop a workforce plan to complement the new 10-year mental health plan.

The Department also commissioned Health Education England to review long term strategic trends for the health and regulated social care workforce, which is nearing its final stages. In addition, we commissioned NHS England to develop a long term workforce plan. The outcomes will be made available in due course.

Any decision to place such measures on a statutory footing would be subject to the Department’s policy development process, any legal obligations such as the Public Sector Equality Duty, any relevant impact tests such as the family test, consultation with interested parties and value for money, with the final decision made by Minsters. The information on the specific measures afforded this protection in the last 12 years is not held in the format requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.