Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of extra NHS funding announced at the budget will be allocated to NHS mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2024/25 makes clear that integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will set out expectations for mental health funding, including its share of overall National Health Service expenditure in 2025/26, in due course, as required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 integrate accredited (a) counsellors and (b) psychotherapists into mental health support teams for students.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and that waits for mental health services are far too long. We will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school so that mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, can be identified early on and prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life. We are working with our colleagues at NHS England and the Department for Education to consider options to deliver this commitment.
Department for Education guidance encourages mental health support teams to work with other existing professionals, such as school or college-based counsellors, educational psychologists, school nurses, pastoral care, educational welfare officers, voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, local authority provision, primary care, and NHS Children and Young People Mental Health services.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 increase the number of (a) counsellors and (b) psychotherapists in the mental health workforce.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service workforce has been overworked for years, leading to staff becoming burnt out and demoralised and, while there has been growth in the mental health workforce over recent years, more is needed. That is why, as part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment. We recognise that bringing in the staff needed will take time. We are working with NHS England on options to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce.
More broadly, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS. This plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. A central part of this will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
This summer we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again. We will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need, when they need it.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS funding has been allocated to mental health services in each year since 2015; and whether this funding met the NHS mental health investment standard.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the recurrent National Health Service baseline, the total forecast mental health spend, and the proportion of NHS funding forecasted to be allocated to mental health services, which is only available in the format required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022 from 2022/23 to 2024/25:
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Recurrent NHS baseline | £142,400,000,000 | £154,700,000,000 | £164,000,000,000 |
Total forecast mental health spend | £12,600,000,000 | £13,900,000,000 | £14,800,000,000 |
Mental health share of recurrent baseline | 8.87% | 9% | 9.01% |
Source: Department of Health and Social Care Written Ministerial Statements.
The forecast figures for mental health spend are different from those in the NHS Mental Health Dashboard, which also includes spend on learning disabilities and dementia. The dashboard also compares integrated care board (ICB) mental health spend to ICB allocations, whereas the figures above compare projected total mental health spend to the recurrent NHS Mandate, which includes spending across ICBs, service development funding, and specialised commissioning.
The following table shows the number of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), now integrated care boards (ICBs), meeting the Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS), each year from 2016/17 to 2023/24:
Year | Number of CCGs, now ICBs, meeting the MHIS |
2016/17 | 177 out of 209 CCGs |
2017/18 | 186 out of 207 CCGs |
2018/19 | 179 out of 195 CCGs |
2019/20 | 181 out of 191 CCGs |
2020/21 | 135 out of 135 CCGs |
2021/22 | 106 out of 106 CCGs |
2022/23 | 41 out of 42 ICBs |
2023/24 | 42 out of 42 ICBs |
Source: NHS Mental Health Dashboard, NHS England
Note: between 2020/21 and 2021/22, there was a methodology change in how CCG base allocation was calculated.
Calculation of the MHIS does not include spend on learning disabilities, autism, dementia, and specialised commissioning.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, whether he has made an estimate of the total cost to pharmacy businesses of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions (a) nationally and (b) by constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department, from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, whether he has made an estimate of the (a) overall cost to pharmacies and (b) the estimated average cost per business in the pharmacy sector of the proposed increase to employer National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department, from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, if he will make an estimate of the number of pharmacies that will pay increased National Insurance contributions (a) nationally and (b) by constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department, from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the total health and social care budget was allocated to the public health grant in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The proportion of the Department of Health and Social Care budget allocated to the local authority Public Health Grant over the last 5 years is shown in the table:
2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
Total PH Grant quantum (£m) (i) | 3,134 | 3,279 | 3,324 | 3,417 | 3,530 | 3,603 |
Total DHSC Budget (£m) (ii) | 134,184 | 181,441 | 183,548 | 177,095 | 182,634 | 187,636 |
% of DHSC Budget that is the PH grant | 2.34% | 1.81% | 1.81% | 1.93% | 1.93% | 1.92% |
(i) the Public Health Grant includes the notional amounts for the 10 Greater Manchester Local Authorities who are part of a business rates retention scheme and no longer receive a public health grant; and (ii) the DHSC budget for 2024/25 is the planned budget as set out in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2024 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/public-expenditure-statistical-analyses-2024
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 ensure that (a) emergency respite and (b) mental health support is available for unpaid carers in crisis.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support such as respite and breaks for carers. The Better Care Fund also includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including for short breaks and respite services for carers.
As part of the Carers Partnership in the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, the Carers Trust has published a Carer Contingency Campaign Pack. This will help support local carer organisations’ work with local partners to deliver carer contingency plans for carers in their area. Further information on the pack is available at the following link:
We know that people, including unpaid carers, with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, and modernising the Mental Health Act.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to encourage increase his international counterparts to increase financial support for low- and middle-income countries in combating antimicrobial resistance at the Global High-Level Ministerial Meeting in Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The United Kingdom has long championed improved global finance to address anti-microbial resistance (AMR). The Department has committed £450 million of Official Development Assistance budget to tackle AMR in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through improving laboratory capacity and surveillance on resistance. The UK has also funded £106.6 million through the Global AMR Innovation Fund to develop innovative solutions to AMR which focus on the needs of LMICs.
We welcome the adoption of the political declaration on AMR at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and its call for the World Bank to work with the Quadripartite to facilitate improved access to existing funding for AMR.
I attended the 4th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Jeddah on 15 and 16 November 2024. At the event I worked with other global leaders to secure progress that is being made to deliver the commitments agreed at the UNGA High Level meeting and build momentum on the actions needed, particularly on sustainable financing to tackle AMR.