Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of prolonged social isolation on the mental wellbeing of the general public.

We are working with the National Health Service and Public Health England, service users, academics and the voluntary sector to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts of COVID-19 and plan for how to support the public’s mental health and wellbeing throughout the ‘recovery’ phase.

Mental health services remain open and are working to support people with mental health problems through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond and, on 22 April, the Government launched a major effort to tackle loneliness due to social isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak to ensure that, for people of all ages and backgrounds, staying at home does not need to lead to loneliness.