Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for mental health treatment.

No recent estimate has been made, as data on waiting time standards is not held in the format requested. However, the National Health Service Mental Health Dashboard shows data for mental health services where a waiting time standard is in place, including access to psychological therapies, early intervention in psychosis and children and young people eating disorders and data. This information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/

In February 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the outcome of a consultation on the potential introduction of five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services. We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement on the next steps.