Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is planning to take to help increase the number of therapists trained in dialectic behavioural therapy working in the NHS.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out an ambition to expand community mental health services for adults, including increasing access to evidence-based psychological therapies for people with severe mental health problems, such as dialectical behaviour therapy. A national curriculum has been developed for training additional National Health Service staff and an England-wide training programme has been established. To date, 325 staff have entered this two-year programme. Health Education England will continue to commission this training to expand access to dialectic therapy in NHS-commissioned services.