Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with (a) medical and nursing schools, (b) the Royal College of Psychiatrists, (c) the British Psychological Society and (d) mental health training providers to ensure that their (i) curricula, (ii) standards and (iii) compulsory and ongoing training include the mental health needs of LGBT people.

It is the responsibility of the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, in setting the outcomes that medical and nursing students need to achieve through their training, to ensure it is reflective of the knowledge and experience needed to support and advise the patients they see.

Health Education England (HEE) has responsibility for ensuring the NHS in England has the workforce it requires in the right numbers, in the right place and with the right skills. HEE, together with regulators and Royal Colleges, ensures undergraduate and post graduate curriculum meets the needs of all patients.

HEE are also working with stakeholders to support the awareness raising of the mental health needs of the LGBT community. HEE’s competency frameworks, published on 10 October, on suicide recognised that the LGBT community are a high-risk group and there is need for specific suicide prevention interventions to be targeted at this group of people.