Remaining influential

Following Rishi Sunak's election as the new Prime Minister the Royal College has started the process of engagement with the new Ministerial appointments in the Government.

Steve Barclay has returned as the new Health and Social Care Secretary and Maria Caulfield is the new Minister for Mental Health. In the run up to the Autumn Statement the President wrote to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer - Jeremy Hunt MP - making the case to protect NHS budgets and the importance of investing in the Mental Health workforce.

As well as engaging with the new Ministerial appointments the College has also been working collaboratively with the members of the Mental Health Policy Group to make joint representations to Government on the key challenges facing the NHS. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Mental Health – of which the College is the co-secretariat – is also meeting next week with its Parliamentary Officers to discuss the most effective ways to engage with the new government.

Over the weeks and months ahead the College anticipates it will be meeting with the various Ministers appointed to the Department for Health and Social Care, and will be monitoring the announcements in the Chancellor’s Statement to the House of Commons next week with great interest. 

As part of a ‘Workforce Coalition’ the College is a member of along with over 100 other organisations in the health sector, we added our support to a letter to the new Health and Social Care Secretary, outlining the importance of prioritising expenditure in the NHS.

Other recent changes of interest to the College includes the election of former Health Minister Steve Brine as the new Chair of the Commons' Health and Social Care Select Committee and appointments in the Education Department, including the new Minister for Children, Claire Couthino.

On a related note, the College and other members of the Mental Health Policy Group (MHPG) have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer urging him to protect mental health in the budget this month.

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