Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking in regard to those Clinical Commissioning Groups which plan to cut the proportion of their budget spent on mental health services for 2016–17.

NHS England has set a clear requirement of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that spending on mental health should increase year-on-year by an amount at least as great as the growth in their baseline allocations. CCGs are required through the NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2017-2019 to increase their baseline spend on mental health. A copy of this guidance is attached. From this year, NHS England’s budget and financial reporting will be aligned to specific mental health priorities, increasing transparency and allowing additional resources to be tracked at CCG level.