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Written Question
Mental Health Services
Friday 30th May 2025

Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address age-related disparities in mental health provision, particularly in assess to talking therapies.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government’s mission is to improve mental health care across the spectrum of need so that people of all ages can access the right support at the right time.

NHS England is committed to ensuring that the proportion of people aged 65 years old and over receiving a course of treatment through NHS Talking Therapies is maintained or increased. Currently, approximately 7% of courses of treatment delivered by NHS Talking Therapies services are for individuals in this age group.

The Positive Practice Guide, published in 2024 by NHS England and other stakeholder organisations, is designed to support therapists working with older adults. This resource addresses the diverse needs of older people and seeks to challenge misconceptions that may act as barriers to older people accessing psychological therapies.

Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 08 Nov 2022
NHS: Discharge to Assess Policy

"My Lords, I declare my interests as in the register. First, carers need respite, so will the Government focus on ensuring that carers’ families are given respite so that they can have some quality of life, which, at the moment, is not readily available to them? Secondly, will my noble …..."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: NHS: Discharge to Assess Policy
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 30 Jun 2022
Mental Health: Advertising and Body Image

"My Lords, what will the Government do to ban or reduce the use of lightening creams? Among the south Asian and black community, we have an issue around the push for lightening creams, which affects the well-being of a lot of young people who desperately want to fit in...."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Mental Health: Advertising and Body Image
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 05 Apr 2022
Health and Care Bill

"My Lords, I want to raise one thing that may be an unintended consequence of telemedicine abortion pills. In communities such as the one that I come from, having a girl is still seen as not a good sign of family life. I hope that when we discuss this, we …..."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Jan 2022
Health and Care Bill

"My Lords, I declare my interest in the register. I am making a very short intervention just to talk about care workers. While there has been a great emphasis on the NHS, the crisis that the care sector is facing now is absolutely devastating. I was with care managers this …..."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Health and Care Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 16 Jul 2021
Elderly Social Care (Insurance) Bill [HL]

"My Lords, I thank my noble friend for bringing this Bill to your Lordships’ House. It is an important Bill. I want to refer to my interest in the register as an adult social care provider for 21 years. Knowing the sector rather better than some of your Lordships, I …..."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Elderly Social Care (Insurance) Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 18 May 2021
Covid-19 Update

"My Lords, I thank my noble friend for the Statement repeat and congratulate him on the work he has been doing over the last many months. Does he agree that the public health messaging, which has been very good in all communities, should continue because we are going to get …..."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19 Update
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 20 Apr 2021
Covid-19: Update

"My Lords, will my noble friend the Minister tell me what plans are in place to monitor the work being done to ensure that cities such as Leicester, which was in the longest lockdown ever, do not go backwards now that people are being vaccinated? How will they monitor that? …..."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19: Update
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 15 Dec 2020
Covid-19 Update

"Will my noble friend do a communications strategy or campaign to debunk the idea that the vaccines have animal content? There are messages going around on social media that would stop people from minority communities, in particular, from having the vaccine if it did have animal content...."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19 Update
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 23 Sep 2020
Covid-19 Update

"My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for all the work that he and the Government have done in Leicester. The many millions that have been spent have been hugely helpful to our communities there. However, given yesterday’s Statement by the Prime Minister about increased restrictions, my concerns relate to …..."
Baroness Verma - View Speech

View all Baroness Verma (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19 Update