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 efficacy of the use of apps in mental health treatment compared to talking therapies.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Early Value Assessments are specifically looking at promising technologies with an emerging evidence base for clinical effectiveness, including apps for use within mental health treatment as one of its pilot topics. NICE has released guidance for guided digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy tools for children and young people with symptoms of low mood and anxiety, which conditionally recommends these products for use once they have generated further evidence and achieved the NHS England Digital Technology Assessment Criteria. NICE have also recently launched a consultation on guidance for digital technologies to support adults with depression or anxiety, to gather views before a conditional recommendation is made.