Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to provide additional support to people in the northern regions to improve (a) physical and (b) mental health care in light of the health, economic and social effects of the covid-19 outbreak.

Public Health England (PHE) works with NHS England and NHS Improvement to support and assure the delivery of the health inequalities ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The support programme includes Communities of Improvement forums as well as bringing together expertise from around the country and local academia. Programmes to address health inequalities include those covering cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory health, health checks, mental health, drugs and alcohol, social prescribing and numerous others. Work in each locality is delivered through local constructs such as the sustainability and transformation partnership, the health and wellbeing board and individual local organisations.

We are committed to supporting everyone’s mental health and wellbeing in all parts of the country throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the winter period and beyond. We have published our Wellbeing and Mental Health Support Plan for COVID-19, which sets out the support available for individuals and we are working with the National Health Service, PHE and others to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts of COVID-19. Additional funding for 2020/21 announced in the Spending Review will be used to address waiting times for mental health services, give more people the mental health support they need, and invest in the NHS workforce.