Children’s Mental Health Week 2024

Abena Oppong-Asare Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2024 Westminster Hall

[Abena Oppong-Asare (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard.

Let me start my remarks by praising my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan). She is a true champion for the nation’s health. She works tirelessly to highlight mental health issues, especially those among children. In my unbiased way, I have seen how she has operated as an MP and as an NHS emergency doctor, as echoed by some of my colleagues, and she commands huge respect on these issues, so I wish to congratulate her, as others have, both on securing the debate and on her excellent speech.

I also wish to thank hon. Members who have contributed to this debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi) said that this was not just a moral case, but an economic case, especially as children grow into adults and continue to be negatively affected. My hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) talked about the impact on the mental health workforce and the fact that there needs to be clear leadership in this area. She called for a 10-year mental health strategy along with a parent strategy.

I am delighted to be marking Children’s Mental Health Week, which starts on 5 February. This is its 10th year. It is organised by Place2Be, which deserves great thanks for all the work that it does to support children’s mental health. I also congratulate its chief executive, Catherine Roche, and its president and founder, Dame Benny Refson. These are strong women leading the way. This year’s theme, “My Voice Matters”, goes to the heart of the issue. Every child matters. Each child counts no matter who they are, what their parents do, what their race or religion are, or where they live. Every child must know that their voice matters. We need a system that listens to every child. We know that our child and adolescent mental health services are in a severe state of crisis—they are at breaking point.

Last May, we read reports in The Guardian that the number of children in mental health crisis in England was at a record high. NHS data collected by the excellent YoungMinds charity revealed more than 3,500 urgent referrals for under-18s in May, three times higher than the same month in 2019. The number of children and young people undergoing treatment or waiting to start care also reached new highs, with record open referrals to children and young people’s mental health services. This month, The Independent newspaper revealed that NHS figures show that a record 496,897 under-18s—nearly half a million—were referred by GPs to child and adolescent mental health services at the end of November last year, up from 493,434 the month before.

More children than ever with anxiety, depression and other serious mental illnesses are waiting, for longer than ever, in anguish. We know that the causes are complex: social disintegration, harmful social media, bullying, worries about the climate and anxiety about the future. As has been mentioned, covid was a real game changer. Secondary school pupils across the UK experienced significantly higher rates of depression and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties—overall, the worst mental wellbeing—during the pandemic. An Oxford University department reported that cases of depression among secondary school pupils aged 11 to 13 rose by 8.5% during the pandemic compared with a 0.3% increase among the same cohort before covid, that girls’ mental health deteriorated more than that of boys during the pandemic and that girls were also more likely to find the return to full-time schooling difficult. This is a generation in pain, so when we use the word “crisis”, we mean it.

The Oxford University research highlighted something else that is really important: the students who were most resilient during the pandemic were those with plenty of social interaction and support, including a supportive school environment, along with good relationships at home and a friend to turn to for support during lockdown. That is why the centrepiece of Labour’s plan for children’s mental health is the introduction of specialist mental health support for children and young people in every school. That will mean that every child in the school will have someone to talk to, someone to listen to, someone to offer support and someone to prove that “My Voice Matters”. It will go alongside recruiting thousands more mental health staff to cut waiting lists and ensure that more people can access treatment. Labour will create an open-access mental health hub for children and young people in every community. We will focus on prevention, early diagnosis, early intervention and timely treatment near where people live. It simply cannot be right that young people travel miles and wait for months to see a specialist. We know that mental illness is best tackled early and that it seldom gets better as the wait goes on longer. Prevention is not just socially just but, as has been mentioned, economically efficient. It saves young lives and it saves money. The next Labour Government will pay for this move by abolishing tax loopholes for private equity fund managers and tax breaks for private schools. That is social justice.

That promise sits alongside the many other measures in Labour’s child health action plan—a plan that adds up to a comprehensive mission to create the healthiest generation of children ever. That is why, when we meet again for Children’s Mental Health Week in early 2025, after the ballot papers have been filled in at the general election, we hope that we will have a new Government and a fresh start for children’s mental health.

I once again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting for securing this important debate.