Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to publish a 10-year mental health plan instead of the major conditions strategy.

The Government announced on 24 January 2023 that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy. Increasing multimorbidity and complexity of conditions means it is important to ensure strategies are joined up, with care and support centred around people. A joined up Major Conditions Strategy instead of a standalone mental health strategy will ensure that mental ill health is also considered alongside other physical health conditions, meaning the interactions between them are reflected in the resulting plans. We know that many of the risk factors that contribute to mental ill-health are cross-society in nature, and we will therefore be working closely with departments across Government.

We are grateful to everyone who responded to our mental health call for evidence. The responses we received have been processed and will feed into the development of mental health and suicide prevention policies we include in the Major Conditions Strategy and the Suicide Prevention Strategy.