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Psychiatry: Regulation

Asked by Samantha NiblettLabourDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 23 March 2026UIN 122078

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of regulation of psychotherapy professions.

Answered by Karin Smyth

The Government is clear that the professions protected in law must be the right ones and that the level of regulatory oversight must be proportionate to the risks to the public.

The Department keeps the professions subject to regulation under review but has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to psychotherapy professions, including counsellors and cognitive behavioural therapy psychotherapists.

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