Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 33 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, how many people received support from the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies programme (a) nationally and (b) by region in the last 12 months.
Answer
NHS Talking Therapies data (including on employment support) is published monthly by NHSE. There is a slight lag in the publication, so the last 12 months for which data is available is March 2023-February 2024.
For the period March 2023-February 2024:
(a) NHSE data shows that 47,280 individuals started employment support in NHS Talking Therapies (this service is in England only)
(b) The following table breaks this down by NHS regions:
NHS Commissioning Region | Employment support starts |
EAST OF ENGLAND | 4,745 |
LONDON | 7,495 |
MIDLANDS | 10,240 |
NORTH EAST AND YORKSHIRE | 4,205 |
NORTH WEST | 3,830 |
SOUTH EAST | 12,505 |
SOUTH WEST | 4,260 |
Source: NHS Talking Therapies Monthly Statistics Including Employment Advisors - NHS England Digital
Caveats:
- Numbers above are for clients who first started employment support in the reporting period (measured by month).
- The total above is aggregated from the monthly data (across 12 months), using the EA040 variable (Count_FirstESApptInMonthRefs)
- The Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies programme is currently being rolled out across England. All NHS Talking Therapies providers in England are on track to have Employment Advisers in post during 2024/25. This may account for some of the regional differences noted above.