Responding to the government's call for evidence for a 10-year plan for mental health and wellbeing, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson said:

"We welcome this work and the potential for it to bring a strategic and systemic approach to mental health policy setting and delivery over the longer term.

"The secretary of state for health and care is right to reemphasise the impact of the pandemic on people, particularly children and young people, across the country, and that we need to go further than current plans to meet rising mental health demand and to address the care backlog.

"While lockdown restrictions have eased, the impact of the pandemic on the health service is far from over, and we expect the mental health impact to peak later and last longer than some other areas of care.

"It's welcome that the plan will focus on redressing disparities, with targeted commitments to reduce differences in prevalence, and improve equity in service access and life outcomes.

"The need for a workforce plan to attract, recruit and retain mental health staff has rightly been recognised, and we look forward to working with the government, stakeholders and trusts to develop this.

"We are concerned that no additional funding has been announced, at least in the short term, to underpin this plan. We need to see the right level of support and investment to truly reset the way we approach mental health and deliver on ambitions over the next decade."