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 ensure the needs of people with mental health problems are being met within (a) primary care and (b) general practice.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to developing and rolling-out a new primary care and community-based offer for people with severe mental illness. This includes access to psychological therapies, improved physical health care and employment support, giving 370,000 adults greater choice and control over their care and support them to live well in their communities. The NHS Long Term Plan also commits to expanding access to psychological therapies further – to reach 380,000 more adults by 2023/24.

The Update to the GP contract agreement 2020/21 to 2023/24 commits to adding mental health practitioner roles to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme from April 2021. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement and the General Practitioners Committee England have agreed to an ongoing programme of general practice quality outcome framework indicator review in key priority areas, including mental health in 2020/21.