Written question asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) on Monday, 5 September 2016, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 September 2016. It was answered by Lord Prior of Brampton (Conservative) on Friday, 16 September 2016 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Mental Health Services: Essex

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the Basildon Clinical Commissioning Group spending less than the national average on mental health services, according to NHS Benchmarking figures.

Answer: No such assessment has been made by this Department. NHS England advises that the National Health Service benchmarking data for 2014/15 (the latest data available) shows that, compared to a demographically similar cluster of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), Basildon and Brentwood CCG spends slightly more than the cluster average on mental health services (£13,499,988 per 100,000 population against £13,080,187) and is therefore not considered an outlier. This analysis of the benchmarking data is used because within the CCG cluster the prevalence of mental health conditions, and therefore the appropriate spending, is likely to be comparable.

Secondary information