Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to support the level of mental health assistance for civil servants.

The Cabinet Office is fully committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of civil servants.

All departments provide comprehensive Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) and Occupational Health services, ensuring staff have direct access to counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and specialist trauma support. To supplement this, trained Mental Health First Aiders and equivalents are in place to provide immediate advice and signposting.

The Civil Service routinely benchmarks its approach to employee sickness absence and health and wellbeing to ensure it aligns to best practice. As part of the Civil Service People Plan 2024-27, we are undertaking research to better understand and address the underlying factors behind mental health-related absence of civil servants.