Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will encourage medical schools to support the Royal College of Psychiatrists' #ChoosePsychiatry campaign; and what assessment he has made of the psychiatric workforce's capacity to respond to the growing demand for mental health services.

Health Education England (HEE) has worked closely with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to develop Stepping Forward to 2020/21: the mental health workforce plan for England, which was published on 31 July 2017.

Since 2012, the number of trainee doctors working in mental health settings during their foundation programme has more than doubled, but the expected growth in demand for mental health services means that attracting more United Kingdom medical school graduates into both core and higher psychiatry training is essential.

HEE has committed to working with the Royal Colleges, trainees and mental health charities to develop an action plan to attract and retain more clinicians to work in mental health services and psychiatry. This will involve commissioning focus groups and polls of potential and existing trainees so we can better understand the obstacles, increase the support offered to them and increase the profile and attractiveness of careers in mental health.