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 to support social prescribing.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, the Government has underlined its commitment to taking a preventive approach to addressing health inequalities.

We are determined to improve people’s physical and mental health, to support them to live longer and healthier lives, and we recognise the role that social prescribing can play in this.

The Department funds the workforce through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, which includes social prescribing link workers in primary care.

In March 2025, the Department agreed a further year of grant funding for the National Academy for Social Prescribing, securing £1.5 million to advance and expand social prescribing.

The Department has commissioned national research into different workstreams for social prescribing. This includes an evaluation of the model of delivery of the workforce through primary care and the impact of activities such as nature-based interventions for people with mental ill-health.