Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what changes in funding his Department has provided for mental health services over the last five years; and what plans he has for funding such services in the next five years.

Estimates of overall NHS expenditure on mental health services are not available for 2013/14 or 2014/15. Estimates of NHS expenditure on mental health services prior to 2013/14 are available in Table 1.

Table 1: Estimated real-terms expenditure on mental health services for financial years 2009/10 to 2012/13

Source: NHS England Programme Budget Data

The information is also available at:

https://www.networks.nhs.uk/nhs-networks/health-investment-network/news/2012-13-programme-budgeting-data-is-now-available

Analysis from NHS England shows that spending on mental health is estimated to have increased by £302 million in 2014/15, with total mental health spending rising from £11.362 billion in 2013/14 to £11.664 billion planned in 2014/15, an increase of 0.6% in real terms. In the planning requirements for 2015/16, commissioners were required to invest additionally in mental health in line with their increase in allocation. The total planned additional spend is £376 million, an increase of 4.5%.

The Government remains committed to achieving parity of esteem between mental and physical health and we will hold NHS England to account on funding for mental health services. NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce will publish its report later in 2015 with recommendations for future funding. NHS England will set funding priorities for 2016/17 through the annual CCG Planning Guidance.