Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to dialectical behaviour therapy.
We are committed to continuing our investment in expanding and transforming mental health services in England and to investing an additional £2.3 billion a year in mental health services by 2023/24. This means a further 380,000 more adults a year accessing specialist National Health Service treatment, which includes dialectical behaviour therapy by 2023/24.
Since 2019/20 NHS England and NHS Improvement have been working with Health Education England to provide new training places for staff to undertake courses in evidence-based psychological therapies, including dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) courses. Along with continued year-on-year investment in DBT training so that more trained staff can provide therapies over the course of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England are supporting all mental health providers to improve timely access for patients in need of DBT by bringing down waiting times.