Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when before 1 April 2023 they will confirm whether NHS mental health funding will increase as a share of overall NHS expenditure in 2023/24, as required by section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022.

On 23 January 2023 the Government gave a written ministerial statement setting out its expectation for mental health spending by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs) in aggregate in the 2023/24 financial year. It stated that in that financial year, the Government expects mental health spending to continue to increase as a proportion of the total recurrent expenditure incurred by NHS England and ICBs in aggregate.

The following table shows recurrent National Health Service baseline spend as well as the forecast share thereof for mental health for financial years 2023/23 and 2023/24. This includes, at aggregate ICB level, baseline spend within scope of the Mental Health Investment Standard which covers all spending on mental health from an ICB’s core allocations, and at NHS England level, service development fund spending and specialised commissioning spending on mental health.

It should be noted that the figures in the table will, in part, be based on projections, owing to the statutory requirement to lay the statement before Parliament ahead of the new financial year.