Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the research article, Heightened COVID-19 Mortality in People With Severe Mental Illness Persists After Vaccination: A Cohort Study of Greater Manchester Residents, published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin in August 2022; and whether his Department is taking steps to protect patients with severe mental illness from covid-19.

The Department takes key research and evidence into consideration when developing its policies. This includes evidence that relates to the cohorts at high risk of developing COVID-19 including severe mental illness.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to at least an additional £2.3 billion a year to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people get the support they need. This is on top of the additional £500 million provided for 2021/22, to accelerate our NHS mental health expansion plans and to target those groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic including those with severe mental illness, young people, and frontline staff.