Mental Health

Lord Northbourne Excerpts

Wednesday 10th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, we have just completed the consultation on the White Paper and we have received 6,000 replies. We intend to publish our response before the end of the year, and prison health, in particular, will form a part of that response.

[Lord Northbourne]

My Lords, the noble Earl has already mentioned children with mental health problems. Does he agree that a parent with mental health problems can have a serious and damaging effect on a child’s life chances? Are there any statistics on how many children are today growing up in families with a parent with mental ill health? If not, will the Government consider collecting such statistics in the future?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I do not believe that we collect data on the attainments at school of children with parents who have mental health difficulties. However, we know that severe parental mental health problems are one of a range of risk factors that are statistically associated with poor emotional health. There are some statistics, which I will endeavour to supply to the noble Lord, but my understanding is that long-term outcomes are not particularly clear. Nevertheless, there is evidence that children and young people who are emotionally and mentally healthy and active achieve more and participate more fully with their peers at school.