Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the side effects of anti-depressants; for how long on average anti-depressants are taken by patients; how many anti-depressants have been dispensed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; and at what cost.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency continuously monitors the safety of all medicines on the market in the United Kingdom. Information about possible side-effects associated with treatment is provided in the product information which is available to all prescribers and patients. This is based on a thorough assessment of the available information and is updated regularly as new information emerges.

Information on the average length of time antidepressants have been taken by patients is not held centrally. Between March 2020 and November 2020, the latest data available, the number of items of antidepressant products that were dispensed in the community in England was 59,000,280 and the total cost in this period was £286,838,390.64. Information on the number of products dispensed in secondary care is not held.