Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has allocated to counselling services for victims of rape and sexual assault in 2024-2025.

We cannot provide the information on this as the Department does not hold a single, centrally allocated budget line specifically for counselling services for victims of rape and sexual assault. Funding for these services is provided through a combination of routes, including National Health Service-commissioned mental health services, and through funding administered by other departments.

NHS England also funds sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) which provide crisis care, medical and forensic examinations, and onward referral to other support services. NHS England spent £57.6 million on SARCs in 2024/25.

More widely, the 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including victims of rape and sexual assault. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App.

The plan will build on the work that has already begun to bring down waiting lists. This includes providing an extra £688 million in Government funding this year to transform mental health services, to hire more staff, deliver more early interventions, and get waiting lists down.