Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS Mental Health Trusts can access the £588 million fund, announced on 21 August 2020 to support the NHS in discharging patients from hospitals from 1 September 2020.

The £588 million discharge fund does not include funding for National Health Service mental health trusts.

NHS financial arrangements for the remainder of 2020/21 include amounts for local systems to respond to COVID-19 and support for mental health discharges can be funded through monies available to local systems.

Separate discharge guidance for NHS mental health trusts is being developed in collaboration with NHS England and we will seek to publish this shortly.