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 target to increase the number of consultant doctors working in each of the expansion areas referred to on page 13 of the Health Education England plan entitled Stepping forward to 2020/21: The mental health workforce plan for England.

As of June 2020, the mental health workforce in National Health Service-delivered services has increased by over 13,800 whole time equivalents since March 2016. Within this figure there are over 150 more whole time equivalent consultant doctors.

It is not possible at this time to map the current or future consultant workforce plans to the specific expansion areas set out in ‘Stepping forward to 2020/21: The mental health workforce plan for England’.