Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Five Year Forward View, published in October 2014, what steps he is taking to ensure Clinical Commissioning Groups meet the expansion plans for national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies.

For people living with depression, anxiety or other common mental health conditions, talking to a mental health profession can be a real lifeline and help them to manage their conditions. That is why the Government and NHS England have committed to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) to reach 25% (1.5 million) of people with common mental health conditions by 2020/21.

The NHS Planning Guidance sets out clear expectations for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to meet the IAPT expansion targets outlined in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health as part of annual planning and all CCGs have had to submit their expected trajectories towards those targets.

The NHS Planning Guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/planning-guidance-18-19.pdf

Assurance of delivery is gained from regional scrutiny of CCG plans against core IAPT standards. Quarterly deep-dives with regions and the national Senior Responsible Owner are used to inform our shared view of progress and support implementation. This process also helps to identify concerns and enables NHS England to understand where support is needed from the national team, and support plans to mitigate any emerging risks for the region.

Additional funding has also been built into CCG 2018/19 baseline allocations to support the expansion of services outlined in the planning guidance and the specific trajectories set for 2018/19.