Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60400 on Mental Health Service, how many referrals made to mental health services in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24 by primary reason for referral received a (i) suspected and (ii) confirmed diagnosis within (A) fewer than 18 weeks, (B) 18 and 24 weeks, (C) 24 weeks and 12 months, (D) 12 and 18 months, (E) 18 and 24 months and (F) more than 24 months from the date of referral in each NHS Integrated Care Board as of 24 June 2025.

NHS England has confirmed the information requested is not held as data is either not available or would not provide a representative answer to the questions. NHS England collects information in the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) on people in contact with secondary mental health services with a diagnosis of a mental health disorder. The MHSDS is a large, complex dataset so to balance the burden on the National Health Service, some tables/fields are mandatory whereas others are not. The diagnoses tables are not mandatory so not all providers necessarily submit this information. The recording of diagnoses within MHSDS needs to be entered using clinical coding which some providers may be unable to do for various reasons. Additionally, it can take a while for a diagnosis to be confirmed for some patients. There are also other data quality issues around non-completion of the diagnosis information. We are working with providers and partner organisations to address such issues.