Written questions by Evans.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, HCWS562, whether he has carried out an impact assessment of reducing the proportion of NHS spending on mental health.

For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £320 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year. In addition, integrated care boards are forecast to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard over 2025/26, meaning that local health services will invest a greater share of their budgets into frontline mental health services. The Department continues to engage with a range of stakeholders about future plans for mental health services. No formal impact assessment has been made, as mental health spending is forecast to be almost the same as it was for 2024/25, with a small reduction of just 0.07% in the share of recurrent National Health Service spending for 2025/26. This change is driven by additional investment in the NHS to support elective recovery, and by investment to improve general practice and pharmacy services and meet the rising costs of new medicines and medical devices.

With reference to his Written Statement on 27 March 2025, HCWS562, what consultation was undertaken with stakeholders prior to the decision to reduce the proportion of NHS spending on mental health.

For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £320 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year. In addition, integrated care boards are forecast to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard over 2025/26, meaning that local health services will invest a greater share of their budgets into frontline mental health services. The Department continues to engage with a range of stakeholders about future plans for mental health services. No formal impact assessment has been made, as mental health spending is forecast to be almost the same as it was for 2024/25, with a small reduction of just 0.07% in the share of recurrent National Health Service spending for 2025/26. This change is driven by additional investment in the NHS to support elective recovery, and by investment to improve general practice and pharmacy services and meet the rising costs of new medicines and medical devices.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, HCWS562, if he will publish the modelling he used to assess how the £75 million funding will affect the number of out-of-area placements.

We recognise how important it is that individuals who require mental health inpatient care are treated as close to home as possible.Integrated care boards have published plans to localise inpatient care by 2026-27 under the national commissioning framework for mental health inpatient services, improving both care quality and value for money. To support this, £75 million has been allocated in 2025-26 to assist systems and National Health Service-led Provider Collaboratives in reducing one or more of the following:out of area placements in acute care or psychiatric intensive care units; Mental Health Learning Disability and Autism inpatient rehabilitation placements far from home; and placements outside natural clinical flow in adult forensic medium and low secure services and children and young people’s inpatient services.This investment is expected to lead to a reduction of at least 580 placements which are out of area, far from home, or outside natural clinical flow for adult forensic and children and young people’s mental health inpatient services over the next two years. The funding is expected to result in 15 providers being able to end the practice altogether.Systems have been asked to model the local impact of capital investment on out of area placements activity and spending as part of their submissions to receive capital funding. The figures quoted above are based on the bids recommended for approval and were therefore modelled by the submitting integrated care boards or NHS-led provider collaboratives.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025, HCWS562, on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, what estimate he has made of the total cost of mental health spending not included in that statement.

The following table shows the actual expenditure for 2023/24 and expected expenditure for 2024/25 for prescribing for mental health, mental health within NHS Continuing Healthcare and national mental health capital programmes: 2023/24 actual expenditure (£ million)2024/25 expected expenditure (£ million)Prescribing for mental health449472NHS Continuing Healthcare396438Eradication of mental health dormitories (capital)16070Mental health urgent and emergency care (capital)46Not yet availableSource: NHS England and Department of Health and Social CareNote: Spend on training new mental health staff, capital spend on mental health facilities under the Hospital Upgrades Programme and any local capital schemes is not separately identifiable.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025, HCWS562, on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, what data his Department holds on how much funding has been spent on (a) prescribing for mental health, (b) continuing healthcare and (c) routine spend by NHS England on training new mental health staff in the latest period for which data is available.

The following table shows the actual expenditure for 2023/24 and expected expenditure for 2024/25 for prescribing for mental health, mental health within NHS Continuing Healthcare and national mental health capital programmes: 2023/24 actual expenditure (£ million)2024/25 expected expenditure (£ million)Prescribing for mental health449472NHS Continuing Healthcare396438Eradication of mental health dormitories (capital)16070Mental health urgent and emergency care (capital)46Not yet availableSource: NHS England and Department of Health and Social CareNote: Spend on training new mental health staff, capital spend on mental health facilities under the Hospital Upgrades Programme and any local capital schemes is not separately identifiable.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, HCWS562, whether he has made an estimate of the potential impact of the £75 million funding on the number of out-of-area placements.

We recognise how important it is that individuals who require mental health inpatient care are treated as close to home as possible.Integrated care boards have published plans to localise inpatient care by 2026-27 under the national commissioning framework for mental health inpatient services, improving both care quality and value for money. To support this, £75 million has been allocated in 2025-26 to assist systems and National Health Service-led Provider Collaboratives in reducing one or more of the following:out of area placements in acute care or psychiatric intensive care units; Mental Health Learning Disability and Autism inpatient rehabilitation placements far from home; and placements outside natural clinical flow in adult forensic medium and low secure services and children and young people’s inpatient services.This investment is expected to lead to a reduction of at least 580 placements which are out of area, far from home, or outside natural clinical flow for adult forensic and children and young people’s mental health inpatient services over the next two years. The funding is expected to result in 15 providers being able to end the practice altogether.Systems have been asked to model the local impact of capital investment on out of area placements activity and spending as part of their submissions to receive capital funding. The figures quoted above are based on the bids recommended for approval and were therefore modelled by the submitting integrated care boards or NHS-led provider collaboratives.

Whether he has made an estimate of the number of (a) adults and (b) children currently waiting for an diagnosis of autism.

In England, in December 2024, the Autism Waiting Time Statistics show that there were a total of 212,964 patients with an open suspected autism referral. 129,179 of these patients were aged zero to 17 years old, and 83,837 of these patients were aged 18 years old and over. The median waiting time of all patients across England with an open suspected autism referral, where their first care contact was in the quarter, was 427 days for zero to 17 year olds, and 266 days for over 18 year olds.It should be noted that since each metric is rounded to the nearest five in the published data, the number of adults and children do not add up to the total number of patients. Data on children and young people in this dataset is expected to be an underestimate and caution should be used when interpreting these statistics, since they are experimental rather than official statistics. The majority of children assessed for autism in the United Kingdom are seen in child development services, which are out of the scope of this dataset. This means the published figures will underestimate the volume of referrals or diagnoses, and the associated impact on health services. NHS England continues to conduct exploratory analysis into the Community Services Dataset, with a view to including autism waiting times data from that dataset.

If his Department will take steps to publish an updated national autism strategy.

The Department has not currently made an assessment of the effectiveness of the National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026. Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays for accessing autism assessments and that demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years.The House of Lords has established an Autism Act 2009 Committee, which is holding an inquiry to look at the Autism Act 2009 and the autism strategy, and will make recommendations to the Government by 30 November 2025. This will inform the Government’s future approach.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS England's Right to Choose policy.

The Government is committed to giving patients greater choice and control over their care. Patients have a legal right to choose where they go for their first appointment, when referred to consultant-led care as an outpatient.Currently, however, less than a quarter of patients recall being offered a choice of provider. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the work needed to empower patients with greater choice and control, in order to make informed choices. This includes making the NHS App and the Manage Your Referral website the default routes for patients to choose their provider, and improving the information available to patients to support their decision, such as improved waiting time information.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the national strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026, published in July 2021.

The Department has not currently made an assessment of the effectiveness of the National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026. Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays for accessing autism assessments and that demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years.The House of Lords has established an Autism Act 2009 Committee, which is holding an inquiry to look at the Autism Act 2009 and the autism strategy, and will make recommendations to the Government by 30 November 2025. This will inform the Government’s future approach.

What recent discussions he has had with NHS England on the Right to Choose policy for ADHD medication.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions on a wide range of matters with NHS England.Patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) benefit from the Right to Choose their provider. Patients may be prescribed ADHD medication where clinically appropriate.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 33086 on Health Services: Waiting Lists, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the findings of the recent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies entitled Can the government achieve its 18- week elective waiting time target, published on 20 March 2025.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission and a top priority for the Government. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by March 2029, and will ensure patients get the treatment they need faster and improve their experience of care.The Department routinely reviews and considers reports on a variety of topics to inform policy development.Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets out the expectation of progress towards the target this year with an increase to 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks nationally by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum five percentage point improvement on current performance. We make no apologies for setting stretching ambitions for the National Health Service and have been clear on the productivity efforts and reforms that are required to get there. We are closely monitoring performance and will work to ensure that our oversight and delivery standards provide the right incentives to drive reform and maximise progress.The Government is already making good progress on waiting lists, with the delivery of an additional two million operations, scans, and appointments, as a First Step. Since July, the waiting list has fallen by over 190,000, and we have seen significant improvements in getting more people diagnosed and starting treatment faster. We are also introducing funding for general practitioners to incentivise the use of Advice and Guidance, which is an effective way of reducing unnecessary demand into hospitals. We have implemented several innovative strategies to boost NHS productivity and reduce long waiting times, including the Further Faster 20 initiative, in which expert clinicians and managers are deployed into NHS trusts in areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity to get patients treated faster.

What steps she is taking to monitor outputs arising from the £1bn for guaranteed personalised employment support to help people get back to work.

We anticipate that we will assess effectiveness of Pathways to Work measures in the usual way, including through evaluation of their implementation and the impacts that they have on employment, incomes, benefit receipt and other indicators. We will publish more information on our evaluation strategy in due course.

When the cross-Government motor insurance taskforce last met; what the outcomes were of that meeting; and what the date is for the next meeting of the taskforce.

The cross-Government Motor Insurance Taskforce met for the first time on 16 October 2024 and the Secretary of State is keen to reconvene again soon. We will provide updates on the Taskforce in due course. The taskforce is supported by a separate stakeholder panel of industry experts representing the insurance, motor, and consumer sector. This taskforce has a strategic remit to set the direction for UK Government policy, identifying short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums.

When the cross-Government motor insurance taskforce plans to next meet with the stakeholder panel of industry experts; and what the subjects for discussion will be.

The cross-Government Motor Insurance Taskforce met for the first time on 16 October 2024 and the Secretary of State is keen to reconvene again soon. We will provide updates on the Taskforce in due course. The taskforce is supported by a separate stakeholder panel of industry experts representing the insurance, motor, and consumer sector. This taskforce has a strategic remit to set the direction for UK Government policy, identifying short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums.

How many schools have withdrawn from the Free School Daily Breakfast Club pilot in (a) Leicestershire and (b) England.

The evidence is clear on the impact breakfast clubs can have to support children to arrive at school ready to learn. That is why this government is committed to introducing free and universal breakfast clubs in every state funded school with primary aged pupils.The early adopter scheme has not yet started. We were delighted that over 3,000 schools applied to be early adopters and 750 schools will start delivering from the summer term, bringing change now for pupils and parents in every corner of the country.

With reference to her plans for over £600 million of funding over four years to train up to 60,000 skilled construction workers, announced on 23 March 2025, how much of that funding she plans to allocate to (a) the East Midlands and (b) Leicestershire.

My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced an additional £625 million of funding to support construction skills training, with the detail set out in Spring Statement 2025. This is expected to deliver up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers this Parliament. The measures will support the expansion of existing skills programmes including Skills Bootcamps and apprenticeships, as well as helping deliver new initiatives such as establishing 10 technical excellence colleges specialising in construction across every region in England. Additional information regarding allocations at regional and provider level will be shared in due course.

How many private schools she has visited since 5 July 2024; and which schools.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and the wider ministerial team visit a wide variety of education settings, including private schools. The Secretary of State for Education prioritises visits to our state schools, which serve 93% of pupils in England.

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on best practice in joined up systems supporting people with long term health issues to (a) find work and (b) achieve long term employment.

Regular cross government collaboration takes place at both Ministerial and official level. Examples of this can be seen through the publication of the Get Britain Working White Paper and the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits, Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, the Industrial strategy, the Joint Health and Work Directorate and the Make work pay legislation.

How many and what proportion of schools have pulled out of the Free School Daily Breakfast club pilot in (a) Leicestershire and (b) England.

The evidence is clear on the impact breakfast clubs can have to support children to arrive at school ready to learn. That is why this government is committed to introducing free and universal breakfast clubs in every state funded school with primary aged pupils.The early adopter scheme has not yet started. We were delighted that over 3,000 schools applied to be early adopters and 750 schools will start delivering from the summer term, bringing change now for pupils and parents in every corner of the country.