Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve public knowledge of mental health conditions.

The Department has invested £16 million in the Time to Change programme. Time to Change is a national high-profile marketing and media campaign, aimed at reaching 29 million adults, to increase public understanding of mental illness and change their attitudes and behaviour towards mental health problems.

All Government Departments have signed up to the Time to Change programme, and on 10 October, World Mental Health Day, all FTSE 100 companies were challenged to sign up to the programme.

Time to Change statistics show significant reductions in those with mental health conditions reporting discrimination within several life areas, including their social life and securing a job.

In February this year, Time to Change hosted the Time to Talk Day which aimed to get people talking about mental health issues. Over 1 million conversations about mental health took place on the day.

The Government has committed to continue funding the Time to Change programme.

Public Health England (PHE) has been working with employers in supporting employees and raising awareness through the workplace, using tools such as the Workplace Wellbeing Charter.

PHE’s social marketing team are working to embed mental health within their work. PHE will include stress and sleep as key determinants of good mental health in future social marketing campaigns, and emotional wellbeing will be included in the digital information service for parents of babies and young children.