To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to improve mental health services.
Answered on
6 March 2023
We continue to make progress on delivering the mental health aims of the NHS Long Term Plan, which commits to investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by 2023/24 to expand and transform mental health services in England so that two million more people will be able to get the mental health support they need.
On 23 January we set out details on how £150 million of capital investment, first announced at the 2021 Spending Review, will be used to build mental health urgent and emergency care infrastructure over the three years to 2024/25. This includes funding for up to 90 new specialised mental health ambulances over the next two years and will also support over 150 wider capital schemes including to provide and improve crisis cafes, crisis houses, mental health urgent care centres, health-based places of safety and broader improvements to crisis lines and emergency departments. This will support care be provided in more appropriate spaces for those in need, and will help reduce pressure on wider parts of the system including accident and emergency.