This In Focus note examines mental health in children and young people in the United Kingdom.
Children and Mental Health (87 KB , PDF)
On 22 October 2015, the Minister of State for Community and Social Care, Alistair Burt MP, announced new plans to improve children and young people’s mental health, including a national anti-stigma campaign aimed at teenagers. The measures also included the launch of a ‘Youth Mental Health’ section on the NHS website, which will help children find information regarding mental health conditions and the commissioning of the first national survey of children and young people’s mental health since 2004, which will involve 9,500 children, and their parents, teachers and carers. This note explores those plans, and the wider issue of mental health amongst children and young people.
Children and Mental Health (87 KB , PDF)
In 2024, the House of Lords established a committee to consider the prevention and consequences of preterm birth in England. This briefing provides a summary of the House of Lords Preterm Birth Committee findings, reactions to its report, and the government’s response, ahead of a debate in the House of Lords on 6 June 2025.
The House of Lords is due to discuss NHS staff access to single-sex spaces on 1 May 2025. Following a recent Supreme Court judgment about the meaning of the term ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an interim update on 25 April 2025 about the implications of this for workplaces and services provided to the public.
In England, the NHS provides prosthetics where suitable for people who have had a limb amputation. However, concerns have been raised about how quickly individuals can access multifunctional limbs. Also, while high-performance sports prosthetics are available for children, some campaigners are calling for adults to be able to access them from the NHS.
