Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Mental Health Service Provision

Tuesday 6 October 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Ministerial commitment to spend on children and young people's mental health services is growing faster than overall mental health spending.
  • Government has introduced an 8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme to support staff addressing emotional and mental health pressures on children due to the pandemic.
  • See, Hear, Respond, managed by Barnardo's, has received over 11,000 referrals since June, primarily for mental health and wellbeing support.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Ian Lavery Lab Blyth and Ashington
Women & Equalities Mental Health
Context

The MP is concerned about the disparity in resources allocated to mental health services for children and young adults.

Question

What steps he is taking to equalise the provision of resources allocated to mental health services for (a) children and (b) young adults.

Answer from Nadine Dorries

As I said in an answer to the hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan), we are committed to spending on children and young people's mental health services, which is growing faster than the overall spend on mental health, and the overall spending itself is growing faster than the NHS budget.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not provide specific steps or commitments regarding equalising resource allocation for different age groups

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Q2 Ian Lavery Lab Blyth and Ashington
Mental Health Children & Families
Context

The MP references See, Hear, Respond, a service receiving numerous referrals for children's mental health support. He asks about existing early intervention measures.

Question

See, Hear, Respond, a new service managed by Barnardo's in response to covid-19, has received more than 11,000 referrals since June. The majority of children and young people referred need support for their mental health and wellbeing. What early intervention measures have been introduced? Are they enough? Does the Minister agree that early intervention measures are key to tackling the increase in children and young people's mental health and wellbeing needs?

Answer from Nadine Dorries

I could not agree with the hon. Gentleman more. The Government's £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme, which is to support staff to respond to the emotional, mental health and wellbeing pressures that some children have experienced during the pandemic, is in place. As I have said, the last train the trainer session took place last week and those trainers are ready to go into primary schools to assist both teachers and parents to recognise when children display early signs of emotional distress or mental health issues as a result of the pandemic. I have been working closely with the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford), to ensure that this programme is in place to address exactly the needs that he has highlighted.

Answered
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