New government strategy 'won't help majority of young people'

New policies for supporting young people's mental health won't help the majority of young people, politicians from both major political parties claimed today.

The government 'lack ambition and joined up thinking', the combined Education and Health and Social Care Committees say in a joint report.

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The long timeframes involved in the government's strategy will leave hundreds of thousands of children and young people unable to benefit from the proposals, it is alleged.

The government is rolling out new "Trailblazer” pilot projects where mental health teams provide extra support alongside waiting time targets. But these schemes are set to roll out in only a fifth to a quarter of the country by 2022/23.

"The trailblazer approach, while useful in developing evidence of best practice, may inadvertently lead to a wider gap of inequality between areas of good provision and those which struggle across the country," added the report authors.