Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled Fair funding for mental health: Putting parity into practice, published by IPPR in October 2018, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the finding in that report that NHS mental health services require an increase in spending of at least (a) five per cent up to 2023-24 and (b) 5.5 per cent by 2030-31 to achieve parity of esteem.

The Government recognises the need for additional investment in mental health services and the Institute for Public Policy Research report represents a valuable contribution to the debate.

The Government announced its long term financial settlement for the National Health Service in June. This will represent an increase of £20.5 billion in real terms by 2023/24 and the chancellor has already announced that at least a further £2 billion of this will go to fund mental health, including expanding crisis services and supporting more people with severe mental illness into employment.

The Government has asked the NHS to develop a long term plan which will set out a vision for the health service and ensure every penny is well spent. The Government has been clear that better access to mental health services, to help achieve the Government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health, is one of the principles which must underpin the plan. Further details will follow when the plan is published in due course.