Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce mental health waiting times; and whether he plans to set specific targets to ensure that people in full time work receive timely access to therapy and specialist support.

It is unacceptable that too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. We are determined to change that by improving mental health care across the spectrum of need.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment.

We are meeting the constitutional waiting time standards we have in place for the two mental health pathways: NHS Talking Therapies for common mental health conditions, and Early Intervention in Psychosis. We also have targets for eating disorder services for children and young people. Despite the challenging fiscal environment, the Government has chosen to prioritise funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement & Support schemes, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues and providing support for people with severe mental illness to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work.

Since 2023, NHS England began to publish data for the first time on the number of people waiting for mental health services, in line with the Clinical Review of Standards for mental health.