Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Integrated Care Systems to be established under the Health and Social Care Bill give parity of esteem to mental health services.

Under the Health and Care Bill, each integrated care board (ICB) and their partner local authorities will be required to establish integrated care partnerships (ICP), bringing together health, social care, public health, and other perspectives to develop a strategy to address the needs of the area. We fully expect both organizations to give parity of esteem to mental health services. We are giving local areas flexibility to design their ICPs and ICBs, including how best to involve mental health services.

The Government remains committed to investing at least a further £2.3 billion a year to mental health services by 2023-24, which will see spending for mental health services growing faster than the overall National Health Service budget.