Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has for departmental funding arrangements for the recruitment of 8,500 additional mental health workers.

To reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future, we will publish a 10-Year Health Plan as part of the Government’s five long-term missions. We are listening to and co-designing the plan with the public and health and care staff. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.

Our mission is to improve mental health care across the spectrum of need which fluctuates across the life course from poor wellbeing to common mental health disorders to severe mental illness. Therefore, we are focusing on ensuring the NHS is providing the right support to the right people at the right time.

The NHS has funding to pay for staff recruited in 2025/26 because the Government has maintained the Mental Health Investment Standard. Future funding for the NHS, including mental health services, will be determined by my Rt. Hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the Spending Review for 2026/27 and beyond.