Westminster debate on Eating Disorders

MPs marked Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026 with a Westminster Hall debate

On 26 February, Wera Hobhouse MP, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eating Disorders, led a Westminster Hall debate to mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026.

During the debate, Wera recognised the strength of the eating disorder community and the urgent need for meaningful change:

“The eating disorder community is strong, passionate and determined. … No one should be dying of an eating disorder in 2026. No parent should be forced to fight the system while fighting for their child’s life. No person should be told that they are ‘not ill enough’ to deserve care.”

MPs from different political parties highlighted several issues, including that:

• Eating disorder services remain fragmented and inconsistent across the country, with MPs warning that the absence of a dedicated national eating disorder strategy is a major gap in tackling the crisis.
• People are waiting far too long to access treatment. MPs highlighted missed waiting time standards for children and young people, the absence of waiting time targets for adults, and cases of adults waiting up to 700 days to begin treatment.
• Care pathways are often unsafe or poorly coordinated, with concerns raised about delayed referrals, people deteriorating before receiving support, and ongoing problems with transitions from CAMHS to adult services.
• Harmful eating disorder content remains widespread online, with MPs highlighting pro-eating disorder communities, “thinspiration”, and the role of algorithms in amplifying dangerous material, and questioning whether current regulation goes far enough.
• Families and carers are often left to manage with limited support, with several MPs describing the emotional and financial strain placed on families caring for loved ones.
• Inaccurate recording of eating disorder-related deaths and low levels of research funding make it harder to understand the true scale of the problem and prevent avoidable deaths.

Responding on behalf of the Government, Dr Zubir Ahmed MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety, outlined several actions being taken, including:

• New NHS guidance for children and young people’s eating disorder services, which states that care should be timely, joined up and delivered as close to home as possible.
• Increased funding for children and young people’s eating disorder services, rising from £46.7 million in 2017–18 to £106.3 million in 2024–25.
• Plans for a Modern Service Framework for Severe Mental Illness, which will include eating disorders and set clear long-term goals, standards and evidence-based approaches to improve care and outcomes across the NHS.
• A commitment to write to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to ask what further action is planned on online harms linked to eating disorders.

Closing the debate, Dr Ahmed shared a message to the eating disorder community:

“To those living with an eating disorder, and to the families supporting them, I want to say this: you are not invisible. You are not alone. This Government are committed to building a system that responds with urgency, expertise and compassion… ensuring that when someone reaches out for help, the system we create is ready to respond with urgency, expertise and hope.”

We would like to thank all MPs who attended and contributed to this important debate, and particularly Wera Hobhouse MP for her leadership and tireless campaigning on eating disorders over many years, and for recognising Beat’s role in bringing Eating Disorders Awareness Week to Parliament.