Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the trends in the level of mental health issues experienced by former armed forces personnel during the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps he is taking to prevent an increase in suicide numbers of veterans following the covid-19 outbreak.

Veteran mental health needs are very often no different to those of the general population. Data has shown that most patients suffer from common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety and readily make use of the mainstream mental health services provided throughout the United Kingdom. Research shows that suicide amongst former members of the Armed Forces remains extremely rare and is lower than comparative rates in the civilian population.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are aware of concerns amongst the Armed Forces community that individuals may be differentially disadvantaged as waiting lists lengthen due to COVID-19 constraints. We have no evidence that this will be the case.

More generally, National Health Service local systems and organisations are stepping up non-COVID-19 services as soon as possible. The approach is being flexed at local level according to capacity and demand in different parts of the country, but the reset will be gradual, with full attention to infection prevention and control as the guiding principle.