Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on (a) the rates of mental ill-health, (b) triggering mental health conditions and (b) exacerbating existing mental health conditions.

We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Public Health England (PHE) and others to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts of COVID-19 and plan for how to support the public’s mental health and wellbeing throughout the coming weeks and months.

PHE continues to publish and regularly updates the “COVID-19: mental health and wellbeing surveillance” report, which presents close to real-time surveillance on the mental health and wellbeing of the population in England during the pandemic. It can be found at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-surveillance-report.