Policy & Public Affairs Update: April 2025 

Mental Health Bill  

The BPS have long been calling for reform to the Mental Health Act and are currently working to influence the Mental Health Bill that is passing through the House of Lords. 

In April, the Senedd's Health and Social Care Committee published its report on the Legislative Consent Memorandum for the Mental Health Bill. Many of the points which we raised in our submission to the Committee in their call for evidence for the Legislative Consent Memorandum for the Mental Health Bill are included in this report. 

The BPS are cited on numerous occasions throughout the report, including our recommendation that there must be practical availability within the healthcare system for the 28-day limit for transferring prisoners to hospitals to work in practice. 

Consultations  

We recently responded to the Health and Social Care's Committee inquiry on the first 1,000 days of life. Our response explores the importance of the early years in subsequent development and calls on the government to continue to invest in early years services such as Parent-Infant Mental Health Services. 

We also responded to Ofsted's consultation on improving the way Ofsted inspects education. We highlighted the importance of ensuring and enabling better mental health provision and positive environments that support the mental health and well-being of students, as well as the importance of inspectors taking a psychologically-informed approach to inspections. 

The Policy and Public Affairs team will be responding to several consultations over the coming months. This includes responding to:; 

• The PSA on its Standards of Good Regulation and Standards for Accredited Registers

• NICE on guidelines for rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders

• The House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Committee on their call for evidence on how well the Autism Act is working 

• The Family Procedure Rule Committee on their consultation on the standards required for expert witnesses 

• The Department for Work and Pensions on their Pathways to Work Green Paper

• The Office for Equality and Opportunity on their call for evidence on Equality Law

• In Northern Ireland, we are calling for evidence to inform the Northern Ireland Department of Health's new Disability Action Plan. 

You can find out more about these consultations and how to respond on the consultation page of the BPS website. 

Briefings 

In Wales, we produced a briefing for Members of the Senedd in advance of a debate taking place on 30 April on chronic conditions. 

In Northern Ireland, as members of the Mental Health Policy Group with Inspire, RCPSYCH and Action on Mental Health, we have fed into a briefing on Mental Health Strategy implementation and mental health more generally. This briefing is for the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, following a meeting with them in February. 

Events  

We participated in a roundtable hosted by the Policy Liaison Group for Workplace Wellbeing, on the topic of mental health in the workplace. The discussion from the roundtable will shape the Employer Duty of Care Guidelines that are being drafted by this group. Published in late 2025, the guidelines will act as a comprehensive framework offering best-practice guidance for UK employers and actionable recommendations for government policy to help organisations enhance employee wellbeing. 

Additionally, we joined the Council for Work and Health's Mental Health subgroup bi-monthly meeting. The subgroup is co-chaired by Nicola Neath, Psychotherapist, and Abigail Hirshman, Director the Workplace Programme at the Charlie Waller Trust. 

We also joined a workshop hosted by the HCPC on the upcoming SETs review and we presented at the Young People's Monthly Research Colloquium to share updates on our work related to children and young people and SEND system reform. 

In Wales, we are getting ready to attend a series of political party conferences as part of the new Allied Health Professional Federation Cymru (AHPFC). Manel (Senior BPS Public Affairs Adviser, Wales) will be attending the Welsh Conservatives in Llangollen on 16-17 May. This is an opportunity to highlight the AHPFC manifesto and talk about our BPS manifesto for the next Senedd elections. 

Furthermore, we will be attending the first Allied Health Professions Network meeting with the Welsh Government's Chief Advisor, to discuss future priorities and how the network can work together to inform Welsh government ministers. 

Manifesto work in Scotland and Wales  

We have started drafting our BPS manifestos for the next Scottish Parliament election and Senedd election. Our manifestos will be key to our policy and public affairs activity in both countries in the run up to these elections, and beyond. We look forward to engaging with political parties on our manifesto calls to action and will continue to share the views of the psychology profession more widely. 

In Scotland, we are currently contributing views for inclusion in Scotland's Mental Health Partnership (SMHP) forthcoming manifesto for the Scottish Parliament elections. BPS is one of 17 member organisations of SMHP. 

In Wales, we have contributed to the NHS Confederation's Manifesto for the next Senedd election, to be published shortly. We are members of the confederations' Health and Social Care Alliance. 

Policy pillars document 

In Northern Ireland, we are currently drafting a policy pillars document. This builds upon the Northern Ireland BPS 2022 Manifesto and will be published as a response to the Northern Ireland Programme for Government. 

Psychology Matters    

We published a range of inspiring member Psychology Matters interviews this month, including with BPS President Dr Roman Raczka, BPS President-Elect and chartered occupational psychologist Dr Laura Dean. We also featured interviews with A-level educator and chartered psychologist Lyndsey Hayes, and trauma psychologist Thomas Peyton-Lander. Additionally, chartered psychologist Bec McKeown shared insights into her career in the defence and security sector. 

We have been getting members across the BPS involved in our Psychology Matters campaign. In Northern Ireland, this has so far included the Chair of NIBPS and the new Northern Ireland Chief Psychological Officer. We are planning to reach out to more members, including those in the field of Education and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. 

Campaigns  

As part of our campaign for investment in NHS and social care staff mental health and wellbeing services, we met with Doctors in Distress and the Medical Protection Society (MPS) to share updates and discuss upcoming work related to staff mental health and wellbeing.  

Following the meeting, we commented on new data from the MPS which highlighted presenteeism in the medical workforce and the factors driving it. 

A final note about our work in Scotland  

We published our quarter one Scottish Public Affairs Update earlier this month. This update summarises some of the key policy and public affairs activities have taken place in Scotland since the beginning of this year. We recommend reading this for further information on our work in Scotland.