Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for investing in research into mental health interventions to support people post-covid-19 in the North.

The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has funded various studies into the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, through the urgent public health COVID-19 call and the Mental Health Policy Research Unit. Additionally, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the NIHR jointly launched the Rapid Response Rolling Call to fund research that aimed to understand, prevent, or manage COVID-19. The call issued a mental health highlight notice to fund research that sought to identify and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, including interventions. From the UKRI-NIHR call, six mental health studies were funded. Further information can be found at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/2-million-funding-boost-for-new-research-to-tackle-impact-of-covid-19-on-mental-health/25851