Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Written Statement on 27 March 2025, HCWS562, what consultation was undertaken with stakeholders prior to the decision to reduce the proportion of NHS spending on mental health.

For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £320 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year. In addition, integrated care boards are forecast to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard over 2025/26, meaning that local health services will invest a greater share of their budgets into frontline mental health services. The Department continues to engage with a range of stakeholders about future plans for mental health services.

No formal impact assessment has been made, as mental health spending is forecast to be almost the same as it was for 2024/25, with a small reduction of just 0.07% in the share of recurrent National Health Service spending for 2025/26. This change is driven by additional investment in the NHS to support elective recovery, and by investment to improve general practice and pharmacy services and meet the rising costs of new medicines and medical devices.