Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of training therapists involved in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme to deliver mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for recurrent depression.

Mindfulness-based cognitive behavioural therapy is a specific National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-approved treatment available through Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is not currently included in core training for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies practitioners as a relapse prevention treatment, but is under consideration by NHS England.