Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government by how much demand for mental health, ADHD and autism services is increasing or decreasing in each of the past five years for people aged (1) under 16, (2) 16-24, (3) 25-34, (4) 35-49, (5) 50-64, and (6) over 65.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of people in contact with National Health Service funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services, in each financial year between 2020/21 and 2024/25:
Age group | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Under 16 years old | 593,297 | 776,750 | 869,206 | 915,617 | 986,814 |
16-24 years old | 499,690 | 595,233 | 642,990 | 640,187 | 678,667 |
25-34 years old | 385,511 | 438,756 | 500,668 | 542,170 | 606,461 |
35-49 years old | 424,031 | 466,396 | 525,588 | 581,642 | 661,362 |
50-64 years old | 331,311 | 357,524 | 388,097 | 418,523 | 449,505 |
65 years old and over | 563,811 | 609,373 | 647,310 | 675,575 | 685,797 |
UNKNOWN | 5,593 | 12,663 | 9,005 | 17,112 | 60,684 |
Source: Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS)
Notes:
The following table shows the number of people known to be in contact with NHS Talking Therapies in each financial year between 2020/21 and 2024/25:
Age group | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|
Under 16 years old | 1,222 | 1,189 | 925 | 886 | 749 |
|
16-24 years old | 360,673 | 424,826 | 398,859 | 370,377 | 350,213 |
|
25-34 years old | 487,273 | 571,094 | 563,973 | 555,142 | 543,044 |
|
35-49 years old | 437,838 | 514,275 | 537,364 | 564,755 | 583,614 |
|
50-64 years old | 265,491 | 311,633 | 332,821 | 358,120 | 366,773 |
|
65 years old and over | 89,446 | 108,885 | 123,740 | 136,297 | 140,262 |
|
Source: Improving Accessing to Psychological Therapies dataset Notes:
| ||||||
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to prevent the risk of overdiagnosing mental health conditions in children and young people.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises rising demand for children and young people’s mental health services.
Through the Plan for Change and our 10-Year Health Plan, we are transforming the mental health system to strengthen clinical pathways and improve access to early support, while reducing the longest waits for specialist care and tackling regional disparities.
The independent review into mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism is examining the drivers of rising prevalence and demand, to ensure people receive the right support, at the right time, and in the right place.
More widely, we are accelerating the rollout of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, with national coverage expected by 2029. By this spring, approximately 60% of pupils will have access to early mental health support, up from 44% in spring 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the influence of (1) social media, and (2) greater public awareness, on self-diagnosis and subsequent formal diagnosis of mental health conditions; and what guidance they have provided to clinicians about those influences.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers published a commentary on the findings of a systematic review on screen-based activities and children’s mental health. They found an association between screen-based activities and mental health but could not establish causality. The commentary is avaiable in the document attached.
On 20 January 2026, the Government announced a forthcoming consultation on how to ensure children have a healthy relationship with devices, introduce rapid trials on measures to reduce screentime and limit access at night, and produce evidence-informed screentime guidance for parents of children aged five to 16 years old. This three-month consultation will be evidence-led, with input from independent experts, and will include determining the right minimum age for children to access social media. It will report in the summer.
Over the past decade, greater public awareness and reduced stigma around mental health have coincided with a rise in common mental health conditions and increased demand for National Health Service support, highlighting the need to better understand and address people’s needs.
The independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism will therefore examine a range of potential drivers of mental health conditions, the impact of clinical practice, including the role of diagnosis, opportunities for prevention and early intervention, and models of support within and beyond the NHS.
The review’s Terms of Reference are published on the GOV.UK website, in an online only format.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what research or analysis is being carried out to understand the factors contributing to the increasing demand for mental health services, including factors other than overdiagnosis and diagnostic practices.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research into mental health via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Through the NIHR, the Department is investigating a wide range of factors that contribute to the increase in mental health prevalence across England, including social, environmental, demographic, and biological factors. The Department also funds several population surveys that measure the national prevalence of mental health disorders.
The Department recently launched an independent review led by Professor Peter Fonagy into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism. This review will examine the evidence on rising demand for mental health, autism, and ADHD services so people receive the right support at the right time and in the right place. The review will produce a short report setting out conclusions and recommendations for responding to the rising need, both within the Government and across the health system and wider public services.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of NHS funding is allocated to mental health care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2025/26, total forecast mental health spend is £15.6 billion, which works out at 8.71% of the recurrent National Health Service baseline of £179.4 billion. This was set out in a Written Ministerial Statement by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 27 March 2025.
As the Medium-Term Planning Framework makes clear, we need a new approach for mental health to drive down waits, improve the quality of care, and increase the productivity of mental health services.
Funding is a key part of this. We have set out that over the next three years, integrated care boards will be required to meet the mental health investment standard by protecting mental health spending in real terms. In other words, rising in line with inflation from 2026/27.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the long-term outcomes for individuals diagnosed with mental health conditions, including potential harms from diagnostic labelling and unnecessary treatment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are concerned that many adults, young people, and children with mental health conditions have been let down by services and are not receiving timely or appropriate support and treatment. That is why we have launched an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism, which will look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism.
The review will look at prevalence, early intervention, and treatment, and the current challenges facing clinical services. The review will also examine the extent to which diagnosis, medicalisation, and treatment improve outcomes for individuals. This will include exploring the evidence around clinical practice and the risks and benefits of medicalisation. It will also seek to identify opportunities to provide different models of support and pathways, within and beyond the National Health Service, that promote prevention and early intervention, supplementing clinical support.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 26 January (HL13748), how much the Every Mind Matters campaign has cost since January 2025 to date.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been no campaign spend for Every Mind Matters over the period requested. However, a campaign launched over the new year and is running until the end of March 2026 to encourage people to take new NHS Healthy Choices Quiz which asks questions about six health topics, including mental health and sleep. People whose answers to the quiz indicate mental health difficulties will be signposted to appropriate help, including Every Mind Matters, NHS Talking Therapies, or other National Health Service mental health services.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the decision by the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, whether their updated guidance will include changes to the gender recognition certificate policy framework.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The For Women Scotland Ltd vs The Scottish Ministers judgment ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act, “woman” is a biological woman. The ruling makes clear that a Gender Recognition Certificate does not change a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has submitted a draft Code of Practice to Ministers, and we are reviewing it with the care it deserves. The Code concerns how the Equality Act 2010 applies to services, associations and those exercising public functions.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of increase in demand for special educational needs and disabilities places in the past 10 years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A greater proportion of our school children are educated in special schools than at any time in the past fifty years.
For the first time in 2023, the school capacity survey asked local authorities to provide data on the capacity of special schools and the capacity of special education needs (SEN) units and resourced provision in mainstream schools, as well as their forecast future demand for specialist provision. This is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-capacity-in-england-academic-year-2023-to-2024.
Since 2015/16, the number of children in all types of special schools has increased from 115,000 to 200,000 in 2024/25. The number of specialist placements overall is expected to continue to increase based on current trends.
The department also collects numbers of pupils on roll with SEN through the school census with data from 2025/26 onwards. Data is published by type of provision and can be accessed here at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2025.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of young people who receive health-related benefits for mental health, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism enter sustained employment within (1) two years, (2) five years, and (3) 10 years, of their initial claim.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.