To ask the Minister of Health to detail his Department’s policy on working with charitable and community organisations in providing mental health support.

The Department is fully committed to co-production in the development of mental health policy. This includes involvement of the Community and Voluntary sector and the sector is represented on all strategic groups where the Department has involvement. Our local charity sector provides important and vital mental health support services to many in our communities. It is important that those services are maintained, particularly during these challenging times.

In April 2021 I announced a new £10m Mental Health Support Fund to equip and enable community and voluntary organisations with charitable purposes in providing a wide range of support services for people with mental ill health and to help ensure that those who need to can continue to access mental health support services in the community. The Fund formally opened to applications on 5 July and I expect that the first tranche of funds will be available in October 2021.