Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the cost to the NHS of providing (a) treatment and (b) other support to patients with mental health conditions in each year since 1 January 2022; and if she will commission research on the potential impact of (i) social and (ii) economic factors on the prevalence of mental health conditions.

Forecast expenditure on the provision of National Health Service mental health services and support was £12.6 billion in 2022/23, £13.9 billion in 2023/24, and £14.8 billion in 2024/25. The equivalent information for 2021/22 is not available.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR supports a wide range of research studies in mental health, and launched a Mental Health Research Initiative in 2021, which included a £30 million investment to target acute regional and community mental health needs, and strengthen the nation’s capacity for high impact research. Further activity is underway to establish up to 10 Mental Health Research Groups in areas across England which experience a high mental health burden, but which currently have limited or absent research capacity. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including the factors influencing mental health.