Jim Shannon

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate the hon. Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) on securing the debate. In the short time that I have, I want to make three points about Northern Ireland. Stats show that 22 individuals—20 women and two men—died from eating disorders in Northern Ireland between 2008 and 2018. Reports have highlighted that these deaths can often be connected to complications such as heart failure and organ damage, and are frequently misclassified on death certificates, so realistically the figure could be even higher. Secondly, there has been rising demand for support for those with eating disorders. There is a higher prevalence of disorders today than 20 or 30 years ago, especially among young people. A youth wellbeing survey undertaken in Northern Ireland in 2019 showed that 16.2% of 11 to 19-year-olds exhibited signs of a disorder in eating—a much larger figure than in previous years. Thirdly, the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action revealed that between 2017 and 2021, 26 people had to travel outside Northern Ireland for specialist care in relation to eating disorders. We must ensure that across this nation that is not the case, as it would leave us with prolonged recovery times, excess stress, anxiety and avoidable hospital admissions. Everyone is worthy of support, but we are simply not doing enough to make the recovery process as simple as it should be. I look to the Minister, as always, for his commitment to the country as a whole. I ask him to endeavour to ensure that treatment does not fall behind in different regions.