Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Improvement Report 2018-19, Q4, what steps he is taking to fill the 10,000 unfilled posts across all mental health services.

The NHS People Plan, which will be published by the National Health Service in early 2020, will set out a clear framework for collective action on workforce priorities, with a focus on growing and sustaining a well-skilled workforce across the whole NHS and will build upon the progress made through the Mental Health Workforce Plan (published by Health Education England in July 2017).

NHS Improvement has developed a shared learning resource to improve staff retention, including case studies to highlight the great work taking place across the service to tackle this specific challenge.