Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what publicly funded counselling services are available to people experiencing mental health problems.

There is a range of support available for people experiencing mental health problems and they can be referred by their general practitioner based on clinical need. People can also self-refer to most services for treatment. This includes the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme which provides counselling and therapy services. We continue to expand access to talking and psychological therapies through the IAPT programme. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to ensuring that an additional 380,000 adults will be able to access IAPT services by 2023/24.