Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the uptake of talking therapies; and if he will make a statement.

It is for local commissioners to meet the needs of their local populations. However the Government’s published target is that by 2020/21, there will be increased access to psychological therapies, ensuring that at least 1.5 million of people with common mental health conditions access services each year.

The increase in access to psychological therapies will be targeted. The majority of new services will be integrated with physical healthcare. As part of this expansion, 3,000 new mental health therapists will be co-located in primary care, as set out in the General Practice Forward View. Two-thirds of the additional people receiving services will have co-morbid physical and mental health conditions or persistent medically unexplained symptoms. During 2016/17 and 2017/18, a targeted group of geographies will work to develop the evidence base for implementing these new services at scale, supported by wider investment in training and infrastructure.

A total of £67.7 million will be spent on six new initiatives to improve mental health care through digital innovation, including £3 million to pilot digitally-assisted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). This will pilot digitally assisted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy services for up to seven common conditions: depression, generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, body dysmorphic disorder and tinnitus. Cost-effective products that pass a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence evaluation will be rolled out to the whole service. £300,000 will be used to improve mental health content on:

www.nhs.uk

improvements will be made to enhance the website’s role in signposting people into services such as IAPT.

Since 2007 the Government has made significant investment into the IAPT programme, for example:

- In the spending review period 2010/15, the IAPT programme received over £460 million of Government investment;

- In 2015/16, in addition to other commissioner investment, NHS England invested £10 million on IAPT services from within their overall funding allocation;

- A further £20 million has been invested nationally in this financial year, 2016/17, as set out in Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health; and

- In February 2016 a further £1 billion by 2020/21 for mental health was announced to take forward recommendations in the Mental Health Taskforce Review.