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Eating Disorders Awareness Week
26 February 2026
Lead MP
Wera Hobhouse
Bath
Lib Dem
Responding Minister
Zubir Ahmed
Tags
NHSEmploymentForeign AffairsScience & TechnologyMental Health
Word Count: 12160
Other Contributors: 5
At a Glance
Wera Hobhouse raised concerns about eating disorders awareness week in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key Requests to Government:
The Government should introduce a dedicated national eating disorder strategy, ensure accurate death recording, increase research funding, implement mandatory workforce training, establish waiting time standards for adults, and strengthen online regulations. Proper training saves lives; access to care is a postcode lottery; community provision needs proper funding; accurate data on deaths is crucial.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
The number of children and young people treated for eating disorders has risen by around two fifths since the pandemic. Adults wait up to 700 days for treatment, and only a fraction receive a formal diagnosis. Early warning signs are often missed, leaving families unsupported. Frontline staff lack training in recognizing early warning signs, leading to avoidable deaths and systemic failings. Platforms like YouTube amplify harmful eating disorder content despite reporting, and patients are being discharged medically unsafely due to scarcity of beds.
Caroline Johnson
Con
Sleaford and North Hykeham
She raised concerns about the spike in eating disorder referrals during the pandemic, citing statistics of 3,400 treated patients by early 2021-22 compared to 1,900 in 2019-20. She questioned why mental health spending had not increased as a proportion of total health spending for the first time since 2016-17 and highlighted the impact on children and young people with eating disorders, noting that 12.5% of 17 to 19-year-olds have been diagnosed with an eating disorder since 2023. She also raised issues related to social media usage promoting unhealthy body image norms and AI content depicting unachievable perfection, leading to harmful videos online. Johnson asked for specific actions on improving early intervention and links between eating disorder services, schools, and families. The Minister's previous timeline for the workforce plan was always 'spring', but now it is 'spring or early summer'. This suggests a potential delay in increasing capacity.
Helen Morgan
Lib Dem
North Shropshire
Welcomed Eating Disorders Awareness Week and highlighted the increasing hospital admissions for eating disorders, which have doubled in the last decade. She noted that over half of integrated care boards have cut children's eating disorder services, leading to longer wait times for assessment and treatment. Helen Morgan called for better mental health support for young people, including establishing mental health hubs and having dedicated mental health professionals in schools. Presses the Minister to ensure that mental health spending increases each year as per the mental health investment standard. Requests a commitment that the Department will not abandon this standard.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Jim Shannon shared a personal story about a constituent with severe bulimia and highlighted the challenges faced by individuals seeking help for eating disorders in Northern Ireland. He noted significant waiting times and lack of comprehensive data on mental health services, emphasizing the need to work together across regions and the importance of addressing social media's influence on vulnerable young people.
Olly Glover
Lib Dem
Didcot and Wantage
He praised Wera Hobhouse's dedication to the issue of eating disorders, noting that some cases involve people suffering from eating disorders for decades. He discussed the poor transition between youth and adult support services and highlighted the surge in eating disorder cases with hospital admissions doubling over a decade.
Scott Arthur
Lab
Edinburgh South West
Stressed the importance of community support for those with eating disorders, highlighting the need for more resources in mental health services. Raised concerns about online pro-eating disorder content and the inadequacy of current social media regulations. Supported a ban on under-16s' access to social media and welcomed Google's initiative to warn users about harmful content. Asked the hon. Member to speak louder so that those in the Gallery could hear her better, then intervened to agree that there is a real inequality with access to services based on geographic location and transportation options. Welcomes the Minister's offer to collaborate with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Hopes that young people will be better protected on digital platforms through proactive action, which could reduce the number of individuals seeking treatment.
Government Response
Zubir Ahmed
Government Response
It is an honour and a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) on securing today's debate and raising this important topic—as she always does. The Government are committed to ending the revolving door for many conditions by joining up care and the streams of information that underpin it. NHS guidance published last month is clear that care should be timely, joined up and delivered as close to home as possible.
The Government's long-term approach to mental health reform is set out in the 10-year health plan, which shifts care from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital. Investment has increased significantly for children and young people's eating disorder services, rising from £46.7 million in 2017-18 to an actual spend of £106.3 million in 2024-25.
We are focused on reforming eating disorder services so that people can access help when they need it, not after their condition has escalated. This includes investing in the workforce and introducing comprehensive training for staff across mental and physical health services to recognise eating disorders early and respond safely and effectively. NHS England is addressing concerns about disordered eating and body image by strengthening the role of mental health support teams in schools and colleges.
The UK's Online Safety Act 2023 makes platforms legally responsible for keeping people, especially children, safe online. All providers must mitigate risks of illegal harm on their services, and all providers of services likely to be accessed by children must take steps to mitigate risks to children, especially as regards content related to eating disorders.
The Government share concerns about the accurate recordings of deaths where eating disorders may have been a contributing factor and are working with partners to ensure that not only are statistics captured but learning underpinning those statistics is reflected in genuine improvements to care. Eating disorders require timely treatment, skilled professionals, sustained support thereafter, compassion, understanding and collective responsibility.
I can commit to the hon. Lady that mental health spending in real terms will go up every single year. It went up by £688 million in real terms this year.
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About Westminster Hall Debates
Westminster Hall debates are a chance for MPs to raise important issues affecting their constituents and get a response from a government minister. Unlike Prime Minister's Questions, these debates are more in-depth and collaborative. The MP who secured the debate speaks first, other MPs can contribute, and a minister responds with the government's position.