Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effect of funding inequalities between areas on (a) NHS Newham clinical commissioning group, (b) North-East London sustainability and transformation partnership and (c) other areas as set out on the Royal College of Psychiatrists Mental Health Watch website.

As part of the NHS Long Term Plan we have committed at least a further £2.3 billion a year to mental health services by 2023/24 meaning that spend on mental health will be growing faster than the overall National Health Service budget.

Based on core weighted population, an indicative allocation of £163.7m in clinical commissioning group (CCG) baseline investment and indicative allocation of £271.3 million in transformation funding will be made to North East London Sustainability and Transformation Partnership between 2019/20 to 2023/24, with Newham CCG modelled as receiving around 17.5% of this funding.

The Mental Health Investment Standard requires CCGs to increase the amount spent on mental health by at least as much as their overall budget increases. For the first time, in 2018/19 all CCGs met this level of investment.