Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made in the joint commissioning of services to support former service personnel with mental health problems.

Following a national engagement exercise during 2016 on mental health services for veterans, NHS England commissioned a pathfinder transition, intervention and liaison mental health service for armed forces serving personnel approaching discharge and after discharge.

The service has been launched and is a joint initiative between the National Health Service and the Ministry of Defence and will run until the end of March 2017. The evidence from this service will help to shape the service specification from April 2017.