Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the Government is not proceeding with a dedicated cross-government plan for mental health.

Increasing multimorbidity and complexity of conditions means it is important to ensure strategies are joined up, with care and support centred around people. A joined up Major Conditions Strategy instead of a standalone mental health strategy will ensure that mental ill-health is also considered alongside other physical health conditions, meaning the interactions between them are reflected in the resulting plans.

Preventing mental ill-health, and better supporting those with it, will be part of the Strategy, as well as our separate standalone Suicide Prevention Strategy. We know that many of the risk factors that contribute to mental ill-health are cross-society in nature, and we will therefore be working closely with Departments across Government.