Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to scale and spread effective community-based mental health support models through the forthcoming Mental Health Strategy.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are developing a new cross-Government Mental Health Strategy for England, to be published later this year. We have launched a Call for Evidence to inform the strategy, which closes on 10 July. The Call for Evidence seeks practical, implementation-focused evidence on how to deliver the shift from hospital to community and from treatment to prevention. The Call for Evidence invites views on how effective community-based models can be designed and scaled across different local areas, and what is needed to implement these models successfully in practice.

We are also piloting six community-based mental health centres, which bring together services to provide open-access, joined-up support closer to home, improve continuity of care, and reduce pressure on inpatient services. As set out in our response to the Health and Social Care Committee in March this year, these pilots are being evaluated to assess impacts on access, patient experience, and system pressures. Our response to the Health and Social Care Committee can be found at the following link:

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/53333/documents/298391/default/

This evidence will directly inform the development of the Mental Health Strategy and our approach to scaling and spreading effective community-based models.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve access for people living with mental illness to new and innovative treatments.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We know that one size does not fit all when it comes to mental health, and that is why a range of innovative treatments are needed. We are considering this in the new Mental Health Strategy for England we are currently developing, to be published later this year. We have launched a Call for Evidence to shape the strategy which closes on 10 July 2026.

The Government is committed to accelerating mental health research into innovative treatments, including through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). We have awarded over £100 million to NIHR research programmes on mental health since July 2024 which are driving discoveries into better treatments and care pathways to enhance the lives of people living with mental health conditions. For example, £1.5 million was awarded by the NIHR in October 2025 to 17 innovative health technology projects to reduce waiting times for children and young people who need mental health support.

We also work closely with wider research funders like Wellcome who have just launched a global research prize with Nature, looking to accelerate breakthrough interventions for depression, anxiety, and psychosis.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential relationship between the findings of the interim report of the Independent Report into Young People and Work, led by Alan Milburn, and waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and adult community mental health services.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department welcomes the interim report of the Independent Review into Young People and Work led by Alan Milburn, which provides an important assessment of the drivers of youth inactivity. The report highlights that ill health, including mental health, is now a primary driver of young people becoming and remaining not in education, employment, or training and the need for flexibility in how services respond to the needs and circumstances of young people.

The Government recognises the strong relationship between mental health and labour market participation, and that poor mental health can contribute to disengagement from education and work.

The interim report is diagnostic and does not set out final recommendations. The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Work and Pensions and others to consider its findings, as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents, and will do the same for the final report published later this year.

Demand for children and young people’s mental health services has increased significantly in recent years, and waiting lists remain a key challenge, with delays in accessing support affecting outcomes and life chances. Improving mental health outcomes for children and young people is a key objective of the forthcoming cross-Government Mental Health Strategy. The strategy will be informed by a range of evidence, including the Milburn Review and the independent review into prevalence and support for mental health, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The strategy will look beyond the National Health Service and consider the role of schools, workplaces, the voluntary sector and local government in promoting positive mental health and supporting earlier understanding. It will build on existing commitments to increase access to mental health support for children and young people, including expanding Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to full coverage by 2029, and reducing the longest waits for specialist children and young people’s mental health services by tackling variation across the country and reducing inequalities in access.

The Keep Britain Working Report, published in November 2025, identified a “culture of fear” in workplaces around health and disability and highlighted disparities across different workplaces in the United Kingdom in the levels of effective support for employees and employers. This lack of support can compound the issue of fear which results in a system that does not serve employees. However, it also set out the vital role employers can play in addressing this.

The Department for Work and Pensions is now working with volunteer employers, providers, and regions through a Vanguard Phase to test and refine approaches to help disabled workers and workers with long-term health conditions, including mental health conditions, receive the support they need to remain and thrive in employment. These include developing effective stay in work and return to work practices, and building the evidence needed to spread good practice.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the health-related recommendations in the interim report of the Milburn Review, particularly in relation to mental health.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department welcomes the interim report of the Independent Review into Young People and Work led by Alan Milburn, which provides an important assessment of the drivers of youth inactivity. The report highlights that ill health, including mental health, is now a primary driver of young people becoming and remaining not in education, employment, or training and the need for flexibility in how services respond to the needs and circumstances of young people.

The Government recognises the strong relationship between mental health and labour market participation, and that poor mental health can contribute to disengagement from education and work.

The interim report is diagnostic and does not set out final recommendations. The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Work and Pensions and others to consider its findings, as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents, and will do the same for the final report published later this year.

Demand for children and young people’s mental health services has increased significantly in recent years, and waiting lists remain a key challenge, with delays in accessing support affecting outcomes and life chances. Improving mental health outcomes for children and young people is a key objective of the forthcoming cross-Government Mental Health Strategy. The strategy will be informed by a range of evidence, including the Milburn Review and the independent review into prevalence and support for mental health, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The strategy will look beyond the National Health Service and consider the role of schools, workplaces, the voluntary sector and local government in promoting positive mental health and supporting earlier understanding. It will build on existing commitments to increase access to mental health support for children and young people, including expanding Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to full coverage by 2029, and reducing the longest waits for specialist children and young people’s mental health services by tackling variation across the country and reducing inequalities in access.

The Keep Britain Working Report, published in November 2025, identified a “culture of fear” in workplaces around health and disability and highlighted disparities across different workplaces in the United Kingdom in the levels of effective support for employees and employers. This lack of support can compound the issue of fear which results in a system that does not serve employees. However, it also set out the vital role employers can play in addressing this.

The Department for Work and Pensions is now working with volunteer employers, providers, and regions through a Vanguard Phase to test and refine approaches to help disabled workers and workers with long-term health conditions, including mental health conditions, receive the support they need to remain and thrive in employment. These include developing effective stay in work and return to work practices, and building the evidence needed to spread good practice.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the development of a Modern Service Framework for severe mental illness, and what timeline he has set for its publication.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Modern Service Framework for Severe Mental Illness is an important part of our new approach to mental health. To ensure that we get this right, we are engaging extensively with the mental health sector, including people with lived experience. We are also working to build on the findings from the independent review into prevalence and support, the evaluation of the community based mental health centres, and ensure alignment with the new Mental Health Strategy. We will confirm timelines for publication of the Modern Service Framework in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of inequalities in access to mental health treatment, and what steps he is taking to address them.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises that mental health inequalities persist, with some groups, including disabled people, racialised communities, and those living in more deprived areas, reporting poorer experiences of care and facing greater barriers to access.

The Government is taking action to address these challenges, through improving access, expanding the workforce, and strengthening community-based support. We know there are significant disparities in rates of detention and the use of community treatment orders between different ethnic groups. It is a primary aim of the reform of the Mental Health Act to reduce this racial inequality. The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework, now a contractual requirement for all providers of National Health Service commissioned mental health care, to improve engagement with diverse communities and strengthen accountability for reducing inequalities.

The Government commissioned an independent prevalence review into mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, which in its next phase will examine inequalities in prevalence, diagnosis, support, and outcomes in more detail, including variation by age, sex, ethnicity, and deprivation.

To respond to the emerging findings from the prevalence review, we are developing a new mental health strategy for England, to be published later this year. The strategy will place tackling inequalities at its core, by improving access, prioritising prevention and early intervention, and ensuring services are more responsive to the needs of underserved groups and communities.

Furthermore, the NHS is developing a Modern Service Framework for severe mental illness which will define expectations for high-quality, equitable care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to expand and improve assertive outreach services for people with severe mental illness.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise that assertive care is a vital component of community mental health services. NHS England has issued draft guidance to services which makes clear what, as a minimum, they should be doing to support people who would benefit from intensive and assertive community mental health care. More widely, we are looking to learn from the model of care tested as part of the community-based mental health centre pilots and to encourage assertive approaches through implementation of the Personalised Care Framework. This framework sets out minimum standards of care to be delivered by trusts, so that everyone across mental health services gets the basics of good care, no matter the local configuration.

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 help ensure that mental health research receives equitable funding compared with physical health research.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department commissions and funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom and is funding a range of research in mental health to inform national mental health policy. Between the financial years 2020/21 and 2024/25, the NIHR committed more than £393.2 million to research projects and programmes on mental health, and through NIHR infrastructure investments enabled 952 studies on mental health and 751,663 people to take part in research. In January this year, the NIHR invested almost £55 million in five additional Mental Health Research Groups, expanding mental health research capacity in areas of England that have a high burden of mental ill-health and historically limited research capacity.