Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 21330, what estimate his Department has made of its spend on mental health specialists in each of the next five years.

Mark Lancaster

As previously reported, the Defence Medical Services’ average annual staff costs for military, reserves and civilian mental health personnel across the last three years was £20.39 million. Our current intention is to maintain the numbers of mental health specialists at broadly the same level over the next five years.

A recent study (the Defence Mental Health Services Review) recommended the civilianisation of 40 military posts. Overall, there will be a net increase of two posts and minor changes to the mix of specialisms. It is anticipated that this will result in a minor decrease in overall annual staff costs. This cannot yet be quantified as the detailed timing of implementation is yet to be determined.