Oral Answers to Questions

Bill Esterson Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

5. How much additional investment there will be in children and young people’s mental health services in 2015-16.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

7. How much additional investment there will be in children and young people’s mental health services in 2015-16.

[The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)]

We are investing an additional £173 million this year, which includes £30 million specifically for eating disorders. We are taking a targeted and phased approach to the additional investment to develop capacity and capability across health, education and children’s services, from prevention and resilience building to supporting the most vulnerable.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alistair Burt]

The hon. Lady makes a fair point. While we invest money nationally in services, people complain that locally clinical commissioning groups have not been funnelling the money down. Two things should help: first, for the first time the national access and working time targets, which the Government have introduced, will provide a means of monitoring what CCGs are doing; and, secondly, the new scorecard for CCGs will look explicitly to ensure that a proportion of the increase to a CCG goes into mental health services. The hon. Lady will also be pleased to know that in her own CCG area there will be an extra £521,000 for children’s mental health services.

[Bill Esterson]

Some 23% of the adult prison population were in care as children and many of them have poor mental health. Will the Minister ensure that mental health services are in place for children in care to make the greatest contribution possible to improving their life chances, and not least to ensure we reduce the numbers ending up in prison?

[Alistair Burt]

Yes, the hon. Gentleman makes a point made by successive Governments: care outcomes are terrible and the earlier the intervention the better. We are encouraging the engagement of early prevention therapies, including for those in care, and for the first time the Government have appointed a dedicated mental health Minister, in the Department for Education, further to promote resilience and work more closely with young children, including those in care.