Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) reviewed independent research on the efficacy of energy psychology; and if he will make a statement.

The Department recently announced £816 million of health-based research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This includes almost £70 million for mental health, part of which has been committed to creating the first ever Biomedical Research Council dedicated to mental health.

The Department's NIHR and the Department’s Policy Research Programme have neither commissioned nor funded a systematic review into the efficacy of energy psychology.

The Department welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including the efficacy of energy psychology. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.