Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many referrals were made to mental health services, by patient age in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24.

The tables attached show the number of referrals received for Mental Health Services and for NHS Talking Therapy services, by age at referral and financial year, for 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24.

It should be noted that the majority of NHS Talking Therapy services are for those aged over 18 years old, with some including support for 16 to 17 year olds. In addition, these counts include rejected referrals and will be impacted by data quality issues, particularly where there are changes of system suppliers and transfers of caseloads between providers.