Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS funding has been allocated to mental health services in each year since 2015; and whether this funding met the NHS mental health investment standard.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the recurrent National Health Service baseline, the total forecast mental health spend, and the proportion of NHS funding forecasted to be allocated to mental health services, which is only available in the format required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022 from 2022/23 to 2024/25:
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Recurrent NHS baseline | £142,400,000,000 | £154,700,000,000 | £164,000,000,000 |
Total forecast mental health spend | £12,600,000,000 | £13,900,000,000 | £14,800,000,000 |
Mental health share of recurrent baseline | 8.87% | 9% | 9.01% |
Source: Department of Health and Social Care Written Ministerial Statements.
The forecast figures for mental health spend are different from those in the NHS Mental Health Dashboard, which also includes spend on learning disabilities and dementia. The dashboard also compares integrated care board (ICB) mental health spend to ICB allocations, whereas the figures above compare projected total mental health spend to the recurrent NHS Mandate, which includes spending across ICBs, service development funding, and specialised commissioning.
The following table shows the number of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), now integrated care boards (ICBs), meeting the Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS), each year from 2016/17 to 2023/24:
Year | Number of CCGs, now ICBs, meeting the MHIS |
2016/17 | 177 out of 209 CCGs |
2017/18 | 186 out of 207 CCGs |
2018/19 | 179 out of 195 CCGs |
2019/20 | 181 out of 191 CCGs |
2020/21 | 135 out of 135 CCGs |
2021/22 | 106 out of 106 CCGs |
2022/23 | 41 out of 42 ICBs |
2023/24 | 42 out of 42 ICBs |
Source: NHS Mental Health Dashboard, NHS England
Note: between 2020/21 and 2021/22, there was a methodology change in how CCG base allocation was calculated.
Calculation of the MHIS does not include spend on learning disabilities, autism, dementia, and specialised commissioning.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of extra NHS funding announced at the budget will be allocated to NHS mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to maintain the Mental Health Investment Standard.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, whether he has made an estimate of the total cost to pharmacy businesses of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions (a) nationally and (b) by constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department, from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, whether he has made an estimate of the (a) overall cost to pharmacies and (b) the estimated average cost per business in the pharmacy sector of the proposed increase to employer National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department, from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, if he will make an estimate of the number of pharmacies that will pay increased National Insurance contributions (a) nationally and (b) by constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department, from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the total health and social care budget was allocated to the public health grant in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The proportion of the Department of Health and Social Care budget allocated to the local authority Public Health Grant over the last 5 years is shown in the table:
2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
Total PH Grant quantum (£m) (i) | 3,134 | 3,279 | 3,324 | 3,417 | 3,530 | 3,603 |
Total DHSC Budget (£m) (ii) | 134,184 | 181,441 | 183,548 | 177,095 | 182,634 | 187,636 |
% of DHSC Budget that is the PH grant | 2.34% | 1.81% | 1.81% | 1.93% | 1.93% | 1.92% |
(i) the Public Health Grant includes the notional amounts for the 10 Greater Manchester Local Authorities who are part of a business rates retention scheme and no longer receive a public health grant; and (ii) the DHSC budget for 2024/25 is the planned budget as set out in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2024 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/public-expenditure-statistical-analyses-2024
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) emergency respite and (b) mental health support is available for unpaid carers in crisis.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support such as respite and breaks for carers. The Better Care Fund also includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including for short breaks and respite services for carers.
As part of the Carers Partnership in the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, the Carers Trust has published a Carer Contingency Campaign Pack. This will help support local carer organisations’ work with local partners to deliver carer contingency plans for carers in their area. Further information on the pack is available at the following link:
We know that people, including unpaid carers, with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, and modernising the Mental Health Act.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to encourage increase his international counterparts to increase financial support for low- and middle-income countries in combating antimicrobial resistance at the Global High-Level Ministerial Meeting in Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom has long championed improved global finance to address anti-microbial resistance (AMR). The Department has committed £450 million of Official Development Assistance budget to tackle AMR in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through improving laboratory capacity and surveillance on resistance. The UK has also funded £106.6 million through the Global AMR Innovation Fund to develop innovative solutions to AMR which focus on the needs of LMICs.
We welcome the adoption of the political declaration on AMR at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and its call for the World Bank to work with the Quadripartite to facilitate improved access to existing funding for AMR.
I attended the 4th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Jeddah on 15 and 16 November 2024. At the event I worked with other global leaders to secure progress that is being made to deliver the commitments agreed at the UNGA High Level meeting and build momentum on the actions needed, particularly on sustainable financing to tackle AMR.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) GPs and (b) hospital staff receive adequate training to support those suffering from alcohol dependence.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that those with alcohol dependence can access high quality help and specialist clinical support. General practitioners (GP) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.
All United Kingdom registered doctors are expected to meet the professional standards set out in the General Medical Council’s (GMC) Good Medical Practice. In 2012 the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice, gives patients confidence that doctors are up to date with their practice, and promotes improved quality of care by driving improvements in clinical governance.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners and has to meet the standards set by the GMC. Whilst curricula do not necessarily highlight specific conditions for doctors to be aware of, they instead emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The Department will soon be publishing the first ever UK clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment. The guidelines include good practice recommendations for GPs and their teams, and for hospital clinicians. The guidelines can be used to inform training for staff working with people with alcohol dependence.
Additionally, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and NHS England’s 10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce (2024–2034), outlines actions to be taken over the next decade to improve recruitment, training, skills, and career development and retention of specialist GPs working in the local authority-commissioned drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce. The strategic plan is available at the following link: