Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that people experiencing mental health problems, including those with an additional learning disability, do not have to wait for longer than 18 weeks to receive appropriate treatment.

Mental health and well-being is a priority for this Government. We have legislated for parity of esteem between mental and physical health and included it in our Mandate to NHS England. This makes it clear that “everyone who needs it should have timely access to evidence-based services”. This will involve extending and ensuring more open access to programmes.

In our new five-year plan for mental health, Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020, we identified £40 million additional spending this year and freed up a further £80 million for 2015-16. This will, for the first time ever, enable the setting of access and waiting time standards in mental health services, including for people with mental health problems and learning disabilities. The standards will include:

- treatment within six weeks for 75% of people referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks;

- treatment within two weeks for more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis; and

- £30 million targeted investment will help people in crisis to access effective support in accident and emergency.

Starting this year, the Department and NHS England will work together with mental health system partners to develop detailed proposals for the introduction of further access and waiting time standards from 2016 onwards.