Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that any person operating as a (a) hypnotherapist and (b) psychotherapist is (i) registered and (ii) regulated.

Hypnotherapists and psychotherapists are not statutorily regulated. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care operates a voluntary registry programme, and provides a proportionate means of assurance for unregulated professions which sit between employer controls and statutory regulation, by setting standards for organisations holding voluntary registration for unregulated health and social care occupations.

There are currently two accredited registers related to hypnotherapy, and 12 accredited registers related to psychotherapy. The Government regularly reviews which professions are subject to statutory regulation, and in 2022 published the consultation, Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate. This consultation sought views on the criteria used to decide when regulation is necessary, and whether there are any unregulated professions that should be brought into statutory regulation. The Government will publish its response to the consultation in due course.