Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the economic impact of social prescribing.

Social prescribing is a whole population and universal approach that can work particularly well for those managing conditions, which a non-clinical intervention can support.

Whilst no quantitative evaluation has yet been carried out, the National Academy of Social Prescribing has recently released an evidence summary, which is available at the following link:

https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/read-the-evidence/the-economic-impact-of-social-prescribing/

The Department as part of its commitment with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs led Green Social Prescribing Programme commissioned and funded four research studies through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which has initially shown positive impact on mental health outcomes.

We do not hold data on social prescribing for patients on clinical waiting lists.