Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for people seeking talking therapies; and how many people are on talking therapy waiting lists as at 5 January 2021.

The average waiting time between referral and the first treatment session for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services, where treatment started in the latest available period, August 2020, was 15 days for England. Data for January 2021 are not yet available.