Opposition Day Debate: Mental Health

Andrew Mackley; Tom Powell

The Commons Library has published several briefing papers which will be useful to Members when preparing for this debate:

Commons Library briefing CBP07547, Mental health policy in England, 4 September 2018
Commons Library briefing SN06988, Mental health statistics for England: prevalence, services and funding, 25 April 2018
Commons Library briefing CBP07196, Children and young people’s mental health – policy, CAMHS services, funding and education, 1 August 2018

In addition, since these briefing papers were last updated, the National Audit Office has published a report entitled Improving children and young people’s mental health services (9 October 2018). This examined the extent to which the Government is “on track to meet its ambitions for improving mental health services for children and young people”. The Government has commented on this report in the following written PQ exchange:

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Asked by: Berger, Luciana | Party: Labour Party · Cooperative Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will accept all the recommendations of the National Audit Office’s report entitled Improving children and young people’s mental health services, published in October 2018.

Answering member: Jackie Doyle-Price | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department of Health and Social Care

We welcome the National Audit Office’s focus on the important area of children and young people’s mental health services. We are going above and beyond many of the original recommendations set out in Future in Mind, for example, in improving support and access to services in schools through the recent Green Paper. We have also set ambitious targets on access, which we are on track to meet.

The National Health Service will also be considering what more it can do to improve children and young people’s mental health through the Long-Term Plan for the NHS.

26 Oct 2018 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 182750

Date tabled: 23 Oct 2018 | Date for answer: 26 Oct 2018 | Date answered: 26 Oct 2018

The most recent Government position on mental health services was outlined in the following PQ response published on Wednesday 7^th November:

The Government announced its long term financial settlement for the National Health Service in June. This will represent an increase of £20.5 billion in real terms by 2023/24. The Government has asked the NHS to develop a long term plan which will set out a vision for the health service. The Government has been clear that better access to mental health services, to help achieve the Government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health, is one of the principles which must underpin the plan.

The 2018 Budget set out some of aspects of what the long term plan will contain, and further details will follow when the plan is published in due course.

Work on developing mental health support teams for schools forms part of the work to implement the proposals set out in the Green Paper, transforming children and young people’s mental health provision. The first wave of recruitment for the Educational Mental Health Practitioners who will form part of these teams is now under way, and 210 people will take their places on specialist training courses from January. The intention is that these trainees will start working in schools during 2019. The initial local areas, or trailblazer sites, that will trial the Green Paper proposals will be announced in due course.