Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress Health Education England has made in developing training programmes for health and care employers to ensure that all staff have an awareness of mental health problems and how they may affect their patients by January 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Health Education England (HEE) has been mandated to develop mental health awareness training for all health care staff. This will be launched on 9 March. This is an introductory module with the aim of raising the awareness of mental health issues within healthcare staff. It is designed to give a broad overview of what encompasses mental illness, the link between mental and physical health diagnoses and outline possible treatment options.

The package ensures free access to all healthcare staff and is available as part of HEE E-Learning for Health.