Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of mental health conditions among young people in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning services to meet the mental health needs of young people in Fylde and across Lancashire.
Nationally, the Government is investing an extra £688 million this year to transform mental health services by hiring more staff, delivering more early interventions, and getting waiting lists down so young people can have the best possible start in life. We will fulfil our commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 staff across child and adult mental health services by the end of this Parliament, and 6,700 of these extra workers have been recruited since July 2024.
We also want to intervene much earlier to support better outcomes for children and young people. That is why the 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will work with schools and colleges to better identify and meet children's mental health needs by expanding mental health support teams in schools to cover 100% of pupils by 2029/30 and by embedding mental health support in the new Young Futures hubs, to ensure there is no 'wrong front door' for people seeking help. At the end of March 2025, 55% of pupils and learners in Lancashire were covered by a mental health support team.
Additionally, we are continuing to provide top-up funding of £7 million to 24 existing early support hubs, including hubs in Chorley and Blackburn, to expand their services and to take part in an ongoing evaluation of these services in 2025/26. This funding will enable the supported hubs to deliver at least 10,000 additional mental health and wellbeing interventions, so that more children and young people are supported.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60400 on mental health waiting lists, how many referrals made to mental health services in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24 by primary reason for referral that (i) began and (ii) completed treatment received the first treatment appointment within (A) fewer than 18 weeks, (B) 18 and 24 weeks, (C) 24 weeks and 12 months, (D) 12 and 18 months, (E) 18 and 24 months and (F) more than 24 months from the date of referral in each NHS Integrated Care Board as of 24 June 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The tables attached show, respectively, the number of referrals received for mental health services, excluding NHS Talking Therapies, sorted by integrated care board (ICB), primary reason for referral, and the waiting time for entering treatment, and the number of referrals received for NHS Talking Therapies services, sorted by ICB and by presenting complaint, for the financial years 2021/22 to 2023/24.
During April 2025, 98.5% of referrals to NHS Talking Therapy services which completed treatment had entered treatment within 18 weeks of the referral starting. As a result, the numbers of individual referrals broken down by for the waiting times requested, presenting condition, and integrated care board, would largely be suppressed and there may also be data errors which can incorrectly show extremely long waits. Therefore, these data have not been provided as they do not provide insight to the question and may potentially be misleading. Waiting times data for each ICB can be found in the NHS monthly Talking Therapies statistics publication, at the following link:
Caution should be used when interpreting this data. Comparisons at low levels and between providers may not be reflective of the performance of the provider due to high levels of suppressed values due to small numbers. Primary reason for referral is not a mandatory field and completeness levels can be relatively low and vary between providers. Furthermore, if a provider has a small number of people in a specific category, a seemingly large difference between two providers might not be statistically significant and could be due to random chance. Comparisons over time should also be interpreted with caution, as completeness in the dataset has improved over time, with the numbers of providers increasing year on year, which will impact comparisons.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle mental health barriers to employment in Bournemouth.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care is committed to cutting mental health waiting lists and intervening earlier with more timely mental health support, to help people stay in work or return to work to grow the economy and support people to thrive.
Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies services bring together employment advice and support within local services, including those available to people in Bournemouth. Therapists and employment advisors support people with common mental health conditions who are in work but who are struggling or facing difficulties in the workplace, off work sick, or who are looking for work.
In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions has announced a £1 billion employment support package to support more people with health conditions, including mental ill health, back into work, unlocking opportunity and growing the economy as part of the Plan for Change.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the Health Data Research UK projects that access NHS data where specific project independent review was not received from NHS England's Advisory Group for Data, and what is the current status of those projects.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has a Data Sharing Agreement, project identification code DARS-NIC-381078-Y9C5K, with a consortium of academic organisations in the United Kingdom for the purpose of the Health Data Research UK-led, British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre’s CVD-COVID-UK programme.
This agreement was put in place by NHS Digital prior to its merger with NHS England in 2023, and prior to the establishment of NHS England’s Advisory Group for Data (AGD). The AGD was informed of a Senior Information Risk Owner decision to approve an amendment to the agreement on 22 February 2024.
The agreement was subject to reviews by NHS Digital’s Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) on 25 June 2020, 23 July 2020, 15 October 2020, 3 December 2020, 25 February 2021, 29 July 2021, 29 July 2021, 5 May 2022, and 24 November 2022. It was also subject to advice from the Professional Advisory Group on 24 June 2020 and 28 July 2021.
The agreement allowed the data controllers under that agreement to approve access to National Health Service data for individual projects, subject to approval per project by the CVD-COVID-UK oversight committee, which included a representative of NHS Digital/NHS England. Individual projects were not reviewed by IGARD or the AGD.
Under the terms of the agreement, the CVD-COVID-UK oversight committee is required to maintain a list of projects undertaken under the agreement and provide a quarterly report to NHS Digital/NHS England. The following table lists the projects and their current status from the latest report provided in April 2025:
Secure Data Environment research project reference | Current project status | Project title |
CCU001 | Live - Data in Use | Investigating the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers on COVID-19 outcomes |
CCU002 | Live - Data in Use | SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination and the risk of vascular events |
CCU003 | Live - Data in Use | Direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with cardiovascular disease (CVD) |
CCU004 | Live - Data in Use | COVID-19 and CVD risk prediction |
CCU005 | Live - Data in Use | Data management and analysis methods |
CCU007 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on heart disease patients undergoing cardiac surgery |
CCU008 | Completed | Evaluating impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence and management of risk factors |
CCU010 | Live - Data in Use | In people with CVD and COVID-19, what is the influence of multi-morbidity on risk of poorer outcomes? |
CCU013 | Live - Data in Use | High-throughput electronic health record phenotyping approaches |
CCU014 | Live - Data in Use | Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on clinical pathways using a medicines approach |
CCU018 | Live - Data in Use | COVID-19 infection during pregnancy on CVD and related risk factors |
CCU019 | Live - Data in Use | Identification and personalised risk prediction for severe COVID-19 in patients with rare disorders impacting cardiovascular health |
CCU020 | Completed | Evaluation of antithrombotic use and COVID-19 outcomes |
CCU022 | Live - Data in Use | Genomics of multimorbidity and CVD associated with susceptibility to COVID-19 infection and complications |
CCU023 | Live - Data in Use | Repurposing medicines used to treat CVD risk to prevent COVID-19 |
CCU024 | Completed | CovPall-Connect. Evaluation of how palliative and end of life care teams have responded to COVID-19: Connecting to boost impact and data assets |
CCU028 | Live - Data in Use | Coronary revascularisation and outcomes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU029 | Live - Data in Use | Child hospital admission with COVID-19: risk factors; risk groups; and NHS care utilisation |
CCU030 | Live - Data in Use | Examining potential factors underlying the increased risk of severe COVID-19 experienced by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities |
CCU032 | Live - Data in Use | The effects of COVID-19 on heart failure subtypes |
CCU035 | Completed | Are people with COVID-19 and pre-existing respiratory disease at a higher risk of future cardiovascular and venous thromboembolic events compared with COVID-19 patients without pre-existing respiratory disease? |
CCU036 | Live - Data in Use | The impact of previous exposure to COVID-19 and the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for fertility and pregnancy outcomes |
CCU037 | Live - Data in Use | Improving methods to minimise bias in ethnicity data for more representative and generalisable models, using CVD in COVID-19 as an example |
CCU038 | Live - Data in Use | Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on critical care outcomes |
CCU040 | Completed | Investigating why some people with diabetes have a greater risk of becoming seriously unwell or dying with COVID-19 |
CCU043 | Live - Data in Use | Investigating new onset diabetes following COVID-19 infection |
CCU045 | Live - Data in Use | The impact of COVID-19 on heart failure epidemiology, quality of care and outcomes across primary and secondary care |
CCU046 | Live - Data in Use | Severe mental illness and receipt of acute cardiac care and mortality following myocardial infarction |
CCU049 | Live - Data in Use | Healthcare utilisation in individuals with Long COVID |
CCU051 | Completed | Un-vaccination and under-vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in the UK |
CCU052 | Live - Data in Use | An observational retrospective cohort study describing the changing epidemiology pre, during and post COVID-19 of asthma, interstitial lung disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in England |
CCU053 | Live - Data in Use | Risks and benefits of treatment with SGLT2 inhibitors and the impact of intercurrent illness with COVID-19 |
CCU056 | Completed | Socio-demographic make-up of patients undergoing surgical and transcatheter aortic valve intervention in England and the impact of COVID-19 on this |
CCU057 | Live - Data in Use | Risks for mortality in people with severe mental illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU058 | Live - Data in Use | COVID-19 impact on the long-term outcomes of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies in people with long-term cardiovascular conditions |
CCU059 | Completed | Which combinations of multiple long-term conditions are associated with the greatest risk of hospital admission over the winter season, and to what extent does COVID-19 or influenza vaccination modify this risk? |
CCU060 | Live - Data in Use | Improving characterisation, prediction and intervention for COVID-19 and influenza-related morbidity and mortality |
CCU063 | Live - Data in Use | The effect of COVID-19 on maternal and paediatric health among individuals whose first language isn’t English and require an interpreter in England: from preconception to adolescence |
CCU064 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of COVID-19 clinical care pathway changes on gestational diabetes incidence and pregnancy outcomes in England |
CCU066 | Live - Data in Use | Changes in acute cardiac care of patients with reduced kidney function during the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU068 | Completed | The impact of vaccination on the excess clinical risks of COVID-19 in patients with congenital heart disease |
CCU069 | Live - Data in Use | RARE-CVD-COVID: To understand COVID-19 impact on intersectional disparity in rare versus common cardiometabolic diseases: CVD and metabolic diseases, including diabetes |
CCU070 | Live - Data in Use | Supporting novel trial designs using healthcare systems data to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on diabetes research |
CCU071 | Live - Data in Use | A regional approach for policy makers to tackle health inequalities in CVD and its risk factors |
CCU072 | Live - Data in Use | Influence of COVID-19 on British burden of CVD |
CCU073 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of COVID-19 on the association between Type 2 diabetes and incidence of CVD |
CCU074 | Live - Data in Use | Improving the accuracy, equity and efficiency of using healthcare systems data for recruitment to a clinical trial involving people with CVD and diabetes mellitus: a simulation study in the “Covid era” using the CVD‑COVID‑UK dataset |
CCU075 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on corticosteroid use and side effects in Takayasu arteritis and ANCA-associated vasculitis in England |
CCU076 | Live - Data in Use | The effect of COVID-19 infection on cardiovascular outcomes: an interaction analysis with environmental exposure |
CCU077 | Live - Data in Use | Risk assessment and long-term outcomes of acute coronary syndrome management strategy in cardio-oncology patients before and after the COVID-19 era |
CCU078 | On hold | Foresight: a generative artificial intelligence model of patient trajectories across the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU079 | Live - Data in Use | Investigating the diagnoses of conditions among children in England following SARS-CoV-2 infections compared to general respiratory infections |
CCU080 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of COVID-19 on the use of cardiovascular imaging |
CCU081 | Live - Data in Use | Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular and thromboembolic events in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and the incidence of connective tissue diseases |
CCU082 | Live - Data in Use | Pulmonary arterial hypertension in repaired congenital heart disease: impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prevalence; late diagnosis; and outcomes |
CCU083 | Live - Data in Use | Trends in choice of management strategy for NSTE-ACS among patients with previous bypass surgery before and after the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU084 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of COVID-19 on stroke incidence, severity, aetiology, management, and outcome in younger versus older individuals in England |
CCU085 | Live - Data in Use | STROKE-IMPACT: What are the long-term consequences of stroke on the patient and to the NHS, and how does COVID-19 contribute to variation? |
CCU086 | Live - Data in Use | A data landscape review of datasets used in the surveillance of neurological complications of COVID-19 |
CCU087 | Live - Data in Use | The impact of COVID-19 on heart failure outcomes: the moderation roles of diabetes and obesity |
CCU088 | Live - Data in Use | The impact of COVID-19 on the management of iron deficiency, with or without anaemia, in primary and secondary care |
CCU089 | Live - Data in Use | The impact of comorbidity, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity on waiting times for surgery before and after the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU090 | Live - Data in Use | The impact of cardiac rehabilitation following transcatheter aortic valve implantation before and after the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU092 | Live - Data in Use | Simulation modelling of CVD development and management, identifying the extent to which COVID-19 has impacted on the assessment and treatment of CVD. |
CCU093 | Live - Data in Use | Understanding the relationship between diabetes and the development of multiple long-term conditions in England, Scotland, and Wales during and after the COVID-19 pandemic |
CCU094 | Live - Data in Use | Identifying preventative opportunities for coronary heart disease and stroke in multi-ethnic patients with non-cardiovascular conditions including COVID-19 |
CCU095 | Live - Data in Use | Quantifying and mitigating bias and health inequalities induced by clinical risk models predicting COVID-19-related risks of people with CVD and diabetes. |
CCU096 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of COVID-19 on obesity and risks of cardio-renal-metabolic outcomes |
CCU097 | Live - Data in Use | Drivers, consequences and the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on severe hyperglycaemia at type 2 diabetes diagnosis |
CCU100 | Live - Data in Use | Impact of COVID-19 on fatty liver disease and cardiovascular outcomes in England, across ethnicities and social deprivation |
CCU101 | Live - Data in Use | Lung-Pal-Equity: To identify patterns in use of hospital services in the last year of life for those with advanced lung disease and to examine inequalities by socio-economic group, including before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic |
The status of project CCU078 has been updated to reflect that NHS England paused the project on 29 May. Further detail on the projects is published on the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre’s website.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of people on waiting lists for mental health services who had been waiting for first contact for (a) five years and over, (b) between three and five years, (c) between two and three years, (d) between one year and two years, (e) between six months and one year, (f) between three and six months and (g) less than three months on 31 January 2025, broken down by NHS region.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested for secondary mental health services, including learning disability and autism services) is in the attached table. NHS Talking Therapies data is not included, and is published separately at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/
Since July 2023, NHS England has included waiting times metrics for referrals to community-based mental health services in its monthly mental health statistics publication to increase transparency and drive improvements in the quality of data and help services to target the longest waits. The data in the table will not align with these published statistics. For adult community mental health, the waiting list is defined as someone still waiting for a second contact whereas the data in the table are for people waiting for a first contact. However, for children and young people, the waiting list is defined as someone still waiting for a first contact.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of people on waiting lists for mental health services who had been waiting for first contact for (a) five years and over, (b) between three and five years, (c) between two and three years, (d) between one year and two years, (e) between six months and one year, (f) between three and six months and (g) less than three months on 31 January 2025, broken down by NHS trust.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested for secondary mental health services, including learning disability and autism services, is in the attached table. The data presented is a count of people. However, some people may have multiple referrals waiting for treatment and may fall into multiple waiting time categories. The data also includes people who failed to attend their appointment.
NHS Talking Therapies data is not included, and is available separately at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/
Since July 2023, NHS England has included waiting times metrics for referrals to community-based mental health services in its monthly mental health statistics publication to increase transparency and drive improvements in the quality of data and help services to target the longest waits. The data in the table will not align with these published statistics. For adult community mental health, the waiting list is defined as someone still waiting for a second contact whereas the data in the table is for people waiting for a first contact. However, for children and young people, the waiting list is defined as someone still waiting for a first contact.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need and that waits for mental health services are too long across England. We are determined to change that as part of our shift to prevention and earlier intervention, and in line with our Plan for Change.
Nationally, the Government is providing £7 million of funding to extend support for 24 Early Support Hubs that have a track record of helping thousands of young people in their community. We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, and roll out Young Futures Hubs to provide open access mental health support for children and young people.
In addition, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England, to ease the pressure on the busy mental health services.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of people on waiting lists for mental health services who had been waiting for first contact for (a) five years and over, (b) between three and five years, (c) between two and three years, (d) between one year and two years, (e) between six months and one year, (f) between three and six months and (g) less than three months on 31 January 2025, broken down by Integrated Care Board.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested for secondary mental health services, including learning disability and autism services, is in the attached table. The data presented is a count of people. However, some people may have multiple referrals waiting for treatment and may fall into multiple waiting time categories. The data also includes people who failed to attend their appointment.
NHS Talking Therapies data is not included, and is available separately at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/
Since July 2023, NHS England has included waiting times metrics for referrals to community-based mental health services in its monthly mental health statistics publication to increase transparency and drive improvements in the quality of data and help services to target the longest waits. The data in the table will not align with these published statistics. For adult community mental health, the waiting list is defined as someone still waiting for a second contact whereas the data in the table is for people waiting for a first contact. However, for children and young people, the waiting list is defined as someone still waiting for a first contact.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of average wait times for people being referred for appointments for mental health support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Long waits for mental health services are being driven by increasing demand to a system in desperate need of change. The Government is already responding by delivering new and innovative models of care in the community. As part of this, we have launched six neighbourhood adult mental health centres to bring together community, crisis and inpatient care. These operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
NHS England Planning Guidance for 2025/26 makes clear that for this year, to support reform and improvements, we expect all providers to reduce the variation in children and young people accessing services and improve productivity. We are also improving data quality so we can support providers to understand demand across their areas.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government will recruit an additional 8,500 staff across children and adult mental health services.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve communication around delays in appointment wait times for people seeking access to mental health support services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Long waits for mental health services are being driven by increasing demand to a system in desperate need of change. The Government is already responding by delivering new and innovative models of care in the community. As part of this, we have launched six neighbourhood adult mental health centres to bring together community, crisis and inpatient care. These operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
NHS England Planning Guidance for 2025/26 makes clear that for this year, to support reform and improvements, we expect all providers to reduce the variation in children and young people accessing services and improve productivity. We are also improving data quality so we can support providers to understand demand across their areas.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government will recruit an additional 8,500 staff across children and adult mental health services.