Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)

Anna Dixon Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 17th June 2025 Public Bill Committees

[Dr Chambers]

I broadly agree. We were really heartened that in the King’s Speech, the Government said that mental health needs to be treated as seriously as physical health. There are many reasons to join a political party but, given my long history of working in mental health charities, one major reason for joining the Lib Dems was that they had been saying that for years. I was pleased to hear that in the King’s Speech too, but we have to ensure that the percentage of spend on mental health does not slip in proportion to other very important resources.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

I think we are all agreed that, in order to implement the changes to the Bill, we need investment in mental health services, particularly community mental health services, but does the hon. Gentleman recognise that the Labour Government have kept the mental health investment standard, ensuring that there is sufficient and increasing investment in mental health in this country?

[Dr Chambers]

I hope that that is the case. I know that is the aim, but I suppose we will see in four, five or six years’ time what the mental health resources are. No one aims to underfund these services, but the demand on them changes and they need to be resilient. Darzi said that in April 2024 there were 1 million people on mental health waiting lists, and we know that some children wait 15 months, so we must not just maintain the current investment standard, but try to catch up on the huge backlog, which will not change unless we reform the system or invest in more staff and resources.