Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of mental health support made available to LGBT people during the covid-19 outbreak.

The National Health Service has provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all-age urgent mental health helplines across the country and we have given more than £10 million of additional grant funding to support mental health charities during the pandemic. We are also raising awareness of the resources and guidance available to adults, children, parents and carers, including the LGBT community, through our Wellbeing and Mental Health Support Plan for COVID-19 and the ‘Every Mind Matters’ platform.

However, we know there were pre-existing inequalities in access, experience and outcomes of mental health care for LGBT people. The NHS recently published its Advancing Mental Health Equalities Strategy to support local health systems to better address inequalities in mental health services. Implementation of the strategy will be overseen by the Advancing Mental Health Equalities Taskforce.