Sudden Cardiac Death in Young People

Chris Vince Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Speaker’s Office for finding time for this important Adjournment debate, and my hon. Friend the Minister for being in her place to hear it. I look forward to her response. I know that many Members feel passionate about this issue and look forward to taking as many interventions as I can.

There have been plenty of high-profile examples of sudden cardiac arrest in young people, but I want to speak about a case brought to my attention by one of my constituents, Maureen, who was the aunt of Clarissa Nicholls. Clarissa was studying French and Italian at the University of Cambridge. She was a keen runner and hockey player. Just days before her 21st birthday in May 2023, she collapsed and died while hiking in France with friends. It was later found that she had an undiagnosed life-threatening condition: arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. In June 2024, Clarissa was posthumously awarded a first-class honours degree from the University of Cambridge.

I have had the honour of meeting Clarissa’s mum Hilary, both privately and at a recent event in Westminster held by the Cardiac Risk in the Young campaign. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North West Leicestershire (Amanda Hack) for organising that event. Hilary said:

“Despite a journey cut tragically short we want to celebrate her achievements alongside her cohort, as it should have been. We know that we would have been very proud of her today and we remain proud of her dedication, determination and resilience as she set out to be the very best she could be.”

[Fleur Anderson (Putney) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. I have also met Hilary, Clarissa’s mum, and heard about her death and the fact that a simple electrocardiogram test can save lives. It is chilling to think that my daughters could face this. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is shocking that exercise can triple the risk of sudden cardiac death, but 80% of cases show no symptoms at all? The Government could act now to issue clear guidance, as we have done on concussion, and encourage and enable more young people to have the simple test that could save so many lives.

[Chris Vince]

I do agree with my hon. Friend. Clarissa was a young girl who was very involved in sport. There is no reason why young people with these conditions cannot continue to take part in sport, as long as they are aware of their condition and able to take the necessary precautions.

Hilary said that her daughter

“put everything into her studies, the friends she made here and the staff that supported her along the way including while she was on her year abroad. We are grateful for the happy times she clearly took away with her to the next life.”

When I applied for and secured this Adjournment debate, what really struck me was the number of people who came up to me and shared their personal experiences. In fact, only this morning, two Doorkeepers shared their experiences of this condition. I pay tribute to one of those Doorkeepers, Kieron, whose son Connor—who was born on 13 January 1994—died in 1995 at only 14 months old. When the post-mortem was conducted, it was found that he died of sudden cardiac death through a thickening of a heart muscle. That was over 30 years ago, but I know from talking to Kieron the huge impact it has had on his life; he will always carry that loss with him. It is important that we recognise how long we have been aware of these issues, and that it is time to talk about what action we can take.

This morning, I was in my constituency of Harlow, talking to one of our headteachers, Vic Goddard, who is the head of the Passmores co-operative learning community. He spoke about a young boy dying of cardiac arrest during his time as a PE teacher, and feeling so strongly that every school he works in should have a defibrillator. Again, having spoken to some of the staff in this place, I want to emphasise the huge difference that access to a defib can make to survival chances.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. In the time he has been in this House, he has proven himself to be assiduous, committed and a hard-working constituency MP; I think every one of us is impressed by his efforts in this Chamber and in Westminster Hall, and we thank him for that. Today, he has done his constituents proud, and his constituents should be proud of him, including for how he has presented his case. Well done him.

The British Heart Foundation in Northern Ireland and similar groups have noted that undetected and inherited heart conditions can lead to sudden deaths in young people. That charity has estimated that one person aged under 35 dies every month in Northern Ireland from an undiagnosed heart condition. Does the hon. Member agree that there must be early intervention through screening for heart conditions that could be inherited genetically, to ensure they can be detected and treated earlier? The reason I am supporting the hon. Gentleman is that a young constituent of mine died in the same way he has described. For them and for Strangford, I put forward their case.

[Chris Vince]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and his kind words. He has intervened at the perfect time, because I was just going to go through some of the statistics. Twelve people aged between 14 and 35 die each week in the UK—which obviously includes Northern Ireland—from an undiagnosed heart condition, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) mentioned, 80% of those people show no symptoms, meaning that the first sign is often sudden cardiac arrest. Elite athletes are screened by mandate, but amateur and grassroots athletes are not, despite their facing some of the same exercise-related risks. The NHS currently screens families only after a sudden cardiac death, so Hilary and her family were screened for the condition that took away her daughter’s life, but obviously that is too late for prevention.

[Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)]

On the hon. Gentleman’s point about elite athletes being screened, in September I went to Sidmouth college, which was hosting the very elite Exeter Chiefs rugby team. They were being screened alongside pupils from Sidmouth college because of the great work of Marion Hayman, whose son died aged 27 from a sudden cardiac arrest that came out of absolutely nowhere. Does the hon. Gentleman share my view that screening young people can save many, many lives, and that setting up memorial funds in the way Marion did for her son Jonathan can enable us to save more of those lives?

[Chris Vince]

I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. I know of the funding Hilary was able to raise in memory of her daughter Clarissa to do just that, and of the work that Kieron did in the name of his son Connor to raise funds for exactly that purpose. I will come on to some of my recommendations and key asks in a moment, but what the hon. Gentleman has described is one of them, so I thank him for his intervention.

As I said, the NHS screens families only after a sudden cardiac death. It screens young people with symptoms, but many active young people are dismissed without tests because they do not show those symptoms. There are currently no screening pathways for asymptomatic young people, who make up the majority of those in risk. The National Screening Committee previously rejected screening, but I believe it is now reviewing a targeted programme for amateur athletics.

Finally, I come to some of the key asks.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for securing this important debate; as the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said, he is an absolutely fantastic representative for his constituents. Will he join me in thanking the family of Aiden Joyce from Clackmannanshire? Aiden was a serving police officer and a keen sportsman, and he tragically passed away in 2023 from an undiagnosed coronary artery anomaly. His family set up a memorial fund that funds the screening of young people in Clackmannanshire at Alva academy, a local secondary school. There is absolutely no doubt that it has been crucial in saving tens of lives.

[Chris Vince]

I absolutely pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s constituent and the work that has been done in memoriam, which is hugely important. I thank my hon. Friend for raising it. His intervention goes to show the number of lives that have been affected in this way.

My first key ask is a national NHS screening pathway for active young people, beginning with amateur and grassroots athletes. My second ask is routine ECG screening for all 14 to 18-year-olds at least twice, ensuring early detection before symptoms occur. My third ask is equitable access, so that screening is not limited to those who can pay for it privately. My fourth ask is that we use emerging evidence, including the forthcoming large-scale audit, to update NSC guidance and remove outdated barriers. My fifth ask is that we prioritise prevention by recognising the decades of life lost per young person and the long-term economic and societal impact.

[Phil Brickell (Bolton West) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech and giving an extensive list of recommendations to the Government. He talked earlier about defibrillators. There is an important point about access to defibrillators and where they are sited in constituencies. Does he agree that it is also important to ensure that those who need to use defibrillators have the training, knowledge and skillset to confidently do so in a safe manner?

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Vince]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. When I was a councillor in Harlow, I did a lot of work with my colleague James Griggs, who is now the leader of the Labour group on the council, to push for more defibrillators across Harlow, particularly in public places. Being confident and knowing how to use them are equally important.

I have tried not to get too emotional during this speech, and I might fail in a moment. When I was at uni, a friend of mine, Jude, died when she was only 18 years old—not because of cardiac arrest, but for completely different reasons. I think about all the things that I have done since I was 18. People say that life begins at 40. I do not know about that, but certainly from the slightly—believe it or not—geeky 18-year-old I was to the 42-year-old MP standing here, my life has changed a great deal, and very much for the better. It really saddens me that Jude never got to experience growing up, having a family and having that experience. It also saddens me to think of the many young people, like Clarissa and others, who hon. Members from across the House have mentioned.

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a moving and powerful speech about the tragic loss of young lives—all the years that are lost of their lives, their families and so on, and all the suffering that happens when people die so young. I, too, lost a friend whom I met while we were studying master’s degrees at University College at Durham University in 2001. He died in 2012 of an undiagnosed heart condition, and he is a much-loved and missed son, husband, father and dear friend of mine. Does my hon. Friend agree that the huge loss that families and friends feel should inspire us all to seek as much effort as possible from the Government, from scientists and from medics to prevent these often avoidable situations? I continue my life with him in my memory, and I am inspired by everything that Michael McCarthy did and by our friendship. I miss him dearly.

--- Later in debate ---

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—(Jake Richards.)

[Chris Vince]

I thank my hon. Friend for his powerful testimony and his tribute to his friend Michael. I do not think I could have put it any better.

To finish, we are all aware of the challenges that the NHS, the Department and the Minister and her team face. I recognise that I have made a lot of asks this evening, and I suppose my overall ask to the Minister is to please consider the things that have been said today and to do what she can to tackle this issue. It is hugely important to so many and every young life that is lost is a tragedy in itself. Along with that person losing their life, there is a family who are devastated and friends who are equally devastated.

NHS: Winter Preparedness

Chris Vince Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

We do flex beds depending on needs. For example, there were just over 101,000 beds open on average per day in the past week, which was up on the previous week and broadly the same as it was this time last year. We are investing in the NHS, and we have to ensure that people get the right care, in the right place at the right time. That means not just investing in secondary care; if anything, it means investing in the front and back doors of the hospital—primary care, community services and social care—to deal with the flow of patients through hospitals.

I do not pretend that these are easy issues or that everything is going swimmingly in the NHS—quite the opposite. I have seen conditions on our screens in the past week or two that I would not want to be treated in, someone I love to be treated in, or anyone to be treated in. It is a reflection of that fact that we inherited an NHS that was in enormous crisis. It will take time to recover. The key for me is achieving year-on-year improvements to get the NHS back on its feet and to ensure it is fit for the future.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I put on record my thanks to the staff at Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow for their work to support residents in my constituency not just at Christmas but all year round.

Clearly, the BMA’s decision to take strike action over Christmas is hugely disappointing. As a former teacher, I remember that if we took industrial action, we always tried to avoid taking it over exam season, for similar reasons. Will the Secretary of State reiterate his point about the deal he put forward to the BMA? In particular, reducing the number of applicants per job is hugely important and should be welcomed by resident doctors, or potential resident doctors.

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Responsible trade unions think about the wider workforce and the impact on service users, whether they are children or other users of public services. Crucially, for most trade unions in this country strike action is a last resort. It is astonishing that the BMA chose to go on strike after a 28.9% pay rise, well ahead of the Government making any decisions on future years’ pay and with the Government willing to discuss future years’ pay with the BMA.

It is extraordinary that the BMA has chosen to go on strike after we proposed to take action on jobs, including by bringing forward legislation at an expedited pace. By the way, that involved ensuring that the legal advice was watertight and that, operationally, we could deliver a new application round. It involved working trust by trust to secure the extra training places, and working with my counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Even after all that effort was strained to bring forward something quickly for this application round, the BMA rejected it. It is unreasonable, and to have rejected the offer of postponing strikes until the new year on the grounds of patient safety and doing the decent thing by their colleagues was unconscionable.

Pandemics: Support for People with Autism

Chris Vince Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered support for people with autism during pandemic-type events.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. I am grateful for the opportunity to secure this debate, and to discuss a matter of deep importance for one of my Ipswich constituents, Ivan Ambrose, as well as thousands of people across our country who were failed during the pandemic. It is because of Ivan and his tireless campaigning that we are here today. He has given me permission to share his story. It is deeply personal to him, but tragically, it will be recognised and shared by many people.

Ivan is a 41-year-old man who lives in Ipswich and has been housebound for the past four years. He has autism and severe mental health problems. Prior to the pandemic, Ivan had suffered multiple breakdowns, the most recent of which resulted in him being hospitalised for three weeks. However, he had gradually started to reach a more stable place. It had taken a long time, but he had begun to feel somewhat better.

Ivan was on the road to recovery, but then the pandemic hit. Constantly changing rules left him confused and distressed. He was made extremely anxious by rules that were revised on a daily, and sometimes even hourly, basis. The mass bombardment of information in completely unsuitable formats left him overwhelmed and debilitated. His parents could not have the TV on around him, as he was unable to deal with the relentless stream of information about the pandemic, and none of that information was delivered in an autism-friendly way. No consideration was given to making information easier for autistic people to process and understand, and there was no guidance to help autistic people understand why the rules kept changing. Accessibility was simply not a concern.

After the second lockdown, as pubs and restaurants reopened, no thought was given to housebound autistic people such as Ivan. While the relaxation of rules came as a relief to many of us as we enjoyed a greater sense of freedom, Ivan was not allowed to invite anyone home—not even his favourite aunt. Those years were incredibly difficult for many people.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving a passionate speech. I also thank Ivan for sharing his experiences with the House; they are hugely important. I declare an interest as a trustee of the charity Razed Roof, which provided online sessions during lockdown to support people with autism and other learning difficulties. I am sure that my hon. Friend welcomes charities giving that support, but does he agree that we cannot rely on charities, and that there needs to be state support for people with autism?

[Jack Abbott]

My hon. Friend has done a huge amount of work in this area and he is absolutely right. I pay huge tribute to all the people in our charity sector, and the many organisations that played such a crucial role in supporting people during the pandemic. However, this was a failure of the Government at the time, and we should not just let charities pick up the pieces from that.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Dr Zubir Ahmed)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott) for raising this important topic. Having known him for the last 14 months, I know how passionately he feels about the national health service in his area, particularly the mental health service provision in his area. His constituents can be rightly proud of his doughty advocacy on their behalf. My hon. Friend spoke about his constituent’s campaign to improve support for autistic people following his very difficult experiences during the covid-19 pandemic. I also place on the record my commendation of Ivan for his tireless work to ensure that autistic people will receive the right form of support.

We have heard today of the challenges that autistic people faced during the pandemic. It is important that we learn from those experiences and ensure we do better in future. In 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care commissioned research into the impact of the pandemic on autistic people and their families. The report, published in May ’21, made several key recommendations that chime with the issues my hon. Friend so eloquently raised today. It included findings about access to education for autistic children during lockdown; lack of respite and support for family members and carers; the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of autistic people and the challenges they face accessing healthcare in the round; and, as highlighted in this debate, the need for clear communication and transparency of decision making to help autistic people to follow advice and guidance appropriately.

I want to provide reassurance that the Government remain committed to learning the lessons from the pandemic, to help us to prepare better in future. As my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich alluded to, the Government have acknowledged the disproportionate impact that the pandemic had on vulnerable groups in the United Kingdom. Module 1 of the UK covid-19 inquiry was published in July last year and focused on the UK’s resilience and preparedness for the pandemic. The Government’s response, published in January this year, sets out the changes we have made to ensure that we reduce the potential unequal impacts of events on particular groups or individuals in any future pandemics. However, as my hon. Friend also highlighted, we recognise that there is a lot of further work to do to ensure that the impact of inequalities and vulnerabilities in pandemic decision making is fully anticipated and planned for.

The inquiry recently published module 2 of its report, focusing on UK decision making and political governance. The report highlights that considerable numbers of people suffered from the social, economic and cultural consequences of steps taken to combat the pandemic, such as lockdown, including the impacts of social isolation, loneliness and declining mental health, and of course the chopping and changing of advice—which was sometimes necessary, but perhaps, on reflection, sometimes unnecessary. Module 10 of the inquiry is focusing on the impact of the pandemic on society in more detail and will carefully consider the findings in due course.

It is clearly critical that the UK is prepared for a future pandemic, and that is rightly a top priority for the Government. The Department’s new strategic approach to pandemic preparedness continues to recognise the disproportionate and unintended impacts that pandemics can have on vulnerable people and groups. The Department is therefore committed to publishing a new pandemic preparedness strategy, which will be published next year and will show how the unequal impacts of pandemics on social health and healthcare are considered in all areas of preparedness and response.

As my hon. Friend also alluded to, we have recently concluded participation in Exercise Pegasus, the largest ever simulation of a pandemic in UK history. Exercise Pegasus gives us an opportunity to examine our preparedness, capabilities and response arrangements, and we will continue to learn as we plan for phase 4 of the exercise in 2026. The Government have committed to communicating the findings and lessons, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course.

I recognise the concerns raised about accessible communications during the pandemic, and hear loudly my hon. Friend’s reflections. The UK Health Security Agency was established in 2021 and is responsible for preventing, preparing and responding to infectious diseases and other environmental hazards. The UKHSA collaborates closely with the voluntary and community sector, including organisations working with and representing autistic people. That close collaboration has allowed it to gain rapid feedback from those organisations regarding the efficacy of communication and guidance materials so that they can be adapted as required, in real time, to communicate with all members of our society and not just some.

More broadly, the Government recognise the importance of accessible communications and have published guidance on that for all Government Departments. Within health and social care, all NHS organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the accessible information standard, which details the approach to supporting the information and communication needs of people with disability, impairment or sensory loss. NHS England published a revised standard in June this year to ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss are met within health and care provision. We are also taking steps in the health and care system to improve the accessibility of services for autistic people more broadly. For example, there is work underway in NHS England to make sure that staff in health settings know that they need to make reasonable adjustments for people. That includes the introduction of a reasonable adjustment digital flag, which enables the recording of key information about a citizen or a patient, including that a person is autistic, and the reasonable adjustment needs to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

[Chris Vince]

Would that digital flag also flag up something like someone being a young carer or having caring responsibilities?

[Dr Ahmed]

I will have to go back and check that particular sub-group of flagging and get back to my hon. Friend, but I think the point he makes is that, wherever possible, we should be identifying those groups that have specific communication needs, by virtue of either their own personal health or social needs, or the needs of those they are looking after. He makes a very valid point and I will be delighted to write to him with a more detailed response than I can give at the moment.

More broadly, I have heard concerns about support for autistic people. I reassure my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich that we are committed to supporting autistic people, who should have the right support in place, tailored to their individual needs. Our 10-year health plan sets out an ambitious reform agenda to transform the NHS and rightly make it fit for the future. That future must at its core include early intervention and support for autistic people and those with specific needs.

We are working with the Department for Education on reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities system, ensuring that joined-up support is available across education and health, including for autistic children and young people. We are also taking steps to improve access to adult social care services for those who need them. To build consensus on plans for a national care service, Baroness Casey is chairing an independent commission to shape the medium and long-term landscape reforms needed, and we have been putting the core foundations in place to facilitate that. That includes strengthening joined-up care between health and social care, so that people experience more integrated, person-centred care, including through the development of neighbourhood health services.

I have also heard about the impact of the pandemic on autistic people’s mental health and wellbeing. We know that autistic people are, sadly, disproportionately impacted by mental ill health and face challenges in accessing services in relation to their mental health. We are taking steps to address that, including raising awareness and understanding of autism within health and social care systems. We have been rolling out the Oliver McGowan mandatory training on learning disability and autism to support Care Quality Commission-registered providers to meet their statutory requirements and ensure that their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism. NHS England has been rolling out additional training services across its mental health services, and has published guidance for mental health services on meeting the needs of autistic adults and guidance on adaptations of NHS talking therapies specifically designed for autistic people.

I am sure that my hon. Friend is aware that the House of Lords special inquiry Committee on the Autism Act 2009 published its report and recommendations for Government on 23 November. I understand that his constituent Ivan contributed to the inquiry, and I personally thank him and others for sharing their valuable insights and experiences, despite all the trauma that they have been through. The Government are carefully considering the Committee’s recommendations on the next autism strategy and support for autistic people, and we will respond formally in due course.

I end by reiterating my thanks to my hon. Friend and his constituent Ivan. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) and the hon. Members for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), for Strangford (Jim Shannon), for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) and for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) for their contributions.

Whether through Exercise Pegasus, looking at how we can better co-create guidance with vulnerable groups, using better guidance tailored for specific communities, using digital flags on health records, or indeed better mandatory training, I give my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich this assurance: no longer will disabled people or people with specific or additional needs be treated as an afterthought. They will be at the forefront of our minds when planning future pandemic training and preparedness—and when executing that preparedness, should we be so unfortunate as to suffer another pandemic. He has my assurance, and I am once again grateful to him for securing this debate.

Question put and agreed to.

Suicide: Reducing the Stigma

Chris Vince Excerpts

Wednesday 19th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) for bringing this really important debate to the House, and I join other Members in paying a massive tribute to her constituent Philip for the incredibly positive work he has done in the wake of an unspeakably devastating event. I thank him so much.

I pay tribute to Members on both sides of the House who have spoken in the debate. I want to say to my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) that the world is a much, much better place because he is part of it, but I know how mental health works, and I want to say that if he ever feels that it is not and wants someone to speak to, he can come and speak to me. However, it works both ways, and I would also appreciate that.

According to the 2024 health and wellbeing report commissioned by Harlow council, the suicide rate in Harlow is 16.3 people per 100,000, which is higher than the Essex average of 12.6. Suicide is a significant issue for my constituents, and I am aware that Harlow Mill station in my constituency is one of the biggest blackspots for suicide in Essex, as I have previously discussed with Greater Anglia staff.

I join the hon. Member for Richmond Park in calling for a national campaign to tackle the stigma of mental health, specifically by talking about suicide. I also join the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) in thanking my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Mr Charters), who spoke about his personal experiences of mental health in PMQs today. That is so important.

As many Members on both sides of the House have said, it is important that people do not suffer in silence and feel confident to talk about their struggles with others. It is also important for their friends and family to have the confidence to ask the question, “Are you all right?”, sometimes several times—we must feel that we can check on each other. I hope that hon. Members will appreciate from my opening remarks that they can always ask me that if I look like I need to be asked.

This seems a strange point to make, but I want to talk about 28 November 2011—I am glad there are two Welsh MPs in the Chamber today. I woke up to the news that one of my footballing heroes, Gary Speed, had taken his own life, and it really shocked me. I was shocked again this morning when I read that he was the same age as me when he took his own life: 42 years old. Gary Speed was a hero to me, and I think he was the greatest Welsh footballer who ever lived—although I am sure some would argue with that—so when I talked about mental health to a class of mine, I spoke about him.

What was particularly shocking about the news was the fact that the very morning that Gary took his own life, he was on television as a pundit talking about a football match. Anyone watching that had no idea that he was suffering from mental health issues or that he was going to take his own life. It is important to recognise that people suffering from mental health issues or potentially suicidal thoughts do not have a badge that tells other people that. It is not necessarily obvious; in fact, there may well be no external sign that that is the case.

I realised this morning when I was writing this speech that it is a year this month since a friend of mine, Matt Parsons, took his own life. He was one of the many people I used to talk to at Harlow Town football games. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge about “Doctor Who” and “Neighbours”, which is why we got on so well. It came as a huge shock when Matt took his own life. Every life lost to suicide is one life too many, and I often reflect on what I could have done, or whether there is anything that I or others could have said, to prevent that happening. I wanted to reflect on that, pay tribute to Matt and mention him in this place.

The hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart), who is no longer in her place, mentioned social media. It is fair to say that social media has its part to play, and it is important to reflect on some of its dangers. Only recently, I spoke about the dangers of the glorification of drug taking on social media. The hon. Member for Strangford mentioned the terrible videos about how to take your own life, which is absolutely awful—I am as shocked as he is about that. There is also a place for social media to be part of the solution, and I hope the Government will consider that when we look at a public health campaign on the stigma of suicide and talking about suicide.

I also pay tribute to groups in my constituency. We have talked a lot about farming, so I want to pay tribute to YANA—You Are Not Alone—which is a farming charity that offers mental health support and is based partly in my constituency. I pay tribute to Harlow men’s shed, Hatfield Heath men’s shed, Mind in West Essex and the Young Concern Trust, which provides counselling for young people. I declare an interest because I am one of the trustees there. I also pay tribute to Butterfly Effect Wellbeing, Roots to Wellbeing and many more. There are so many good people in my constituency and across other constituencies who want to support people suffering from mental ill health. I pay tribute to what they do. As the hon. Member for Richmond Park said, it is incredibly powerful when people who have suffered such devastation —we have one such person in the audience today—turn that into a force for good, so I thank them for that.

The Labour Government have committed to recruiting 8,500 extra mental health professionals, improved infrastructure and improved training. Will the Minister talk more about that and about the substantive point, which is ending the stigma of talking about suicide and potential suicide thoughts? Finally, I thank the hon. Member for Richmond Park again for securing this important debate. I hope the honesty with which Members on both sides of the House have spoken will help to challenge that stigma, and I hope we can continue to do more.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) for securing this hugely important debate. I thank all the Members who have spoken today, especially the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), who was vulnerable and honest, which can be difficult in a public forum. His example will help a lot of people to understand that no matter what job we do and how much support we have around us, people still have these kinds of thoughts.

Many people know that I was involved in a mental health charity that offers support to the veterinary profession. Vets have a suicide rate about four times the national average. It is a tiny profession, so everyone knows everyone, and everyone has lost friends and colleagues to suicide. Vets have challenges similar to farmers, another demographic who we know struggle quite a lot.

I pay tribute to Mr Pirie for being here today. The most difficult and emotional conversations that I have had since becoming an MP have been with parents who have lost children to suicide and wives who have lost husbands. Amid the frustration and anger that they all experience, they feel that if they had just known how much someone was struggling they could have done more to support them. Even worse are the cases where someone was actively trying to access support, but did not get the right type of support at the right time and so fell through the net.

I think about my own friends, Sarah Brown and David Bartram, two vets who were also trustees of a veterinary mental health charity. When we lose people, it is important that the memory of their life is not defined by how they died. Sarah was one of the funniest people I have ever met. She never missed a night out. David was an ultramarathon runner and one of the best speakers I have ever seen giving lectures. He was a hugely engaging person. It is a real shame that people get remembered for the way they died and not the positive contribution and the fun and happiness that they brought when they were here.

As a mental health spokesperson, I get really concerned when I hear people from other political parties, specifically Reform, belittling mental health issues and saying that it is the new back problem, it is over-diagnosed or people should man up. Are they seriously saying that farmers, who are some of the toughest people we could ever meet, working all hours in all weathers and earning a living in the hardest way possible, and veterans, who have experienced situations that most of us can only ever imagine, are a bunch of snowflakes who need to man up and toughen up? Mental health is a real problem that can affect even the hardest people on the planet, and no one is immune to those sorts of challenge.

Other Members have talked about 2023 having the highest rate of suicide for 25 years. That rate, thankfully, is slightly declining. It is interesting that the World Health Organisation states that depression is the No. 1 global disease. It affects people in all countries; it is a very prevalent issue. We are much better than we used to be at talking about depression and mental health issues, but suicide is the one aspect of such issues that still carries a lot of stigma. People still do not want to talk about suicidal thoughts, or sometimes there is shame in having a relative who died from suicide. It is not talked about as openly as it could be.

I thank the Minister for his diligent work over the last year on the Mental Health Bill. We have all worked closely on that, including the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans). It is fantastic work and I know the Minister cares very much about this issue. I also welcome the £3.6 million over three years provided under the men’s health strategy specifically for suicide prevention, although I am concerned that it is very much less than the previous £10 million-a-year suicide prevention grant fund for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. How will the £3.6 million be targeted? Will there be scope to support in other ways the many organisations and charities, such as the Samaritans, that have contacted me to say that the grant is a significant part of their funding to deliver their services to help prevent suicide?

There are so many amazing community groups all over the country. I meet some quite regularly. The Farming Community Network, the Bishop’s Waltham men’s breakfast, the men’s sheds that are everywhere—we have one in Alresford and one in Hambledon—and Winchester Youth Counselling do brilliant work bringing people together. We must do everything we can to keep those organisations viable, running and thriving. It is so much more economic if people are prevented from heading down the route of depression, with a good social network and a lot of community support, than if they end up needing to engage with clinical services.

I also thank all those on the frontline: the clinical staff, the nurses, the counsellors and the carers caring for people who are struggling with mental health issues. The mental health of carers is another huge issue.

[Chris Vince]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Dr Chambers]

I will—the hon. Gentleman caught me two seconds before I finished.

[Chris Vince]

I apologise for that; it happens to me a lot as well. The hon. Gentleman mentioned carers. That is particularly important because tomorrow is Carers Rights Day. I worked for a charity that supports young carers and we have seen an increase in the number of young carers supporting people with mental health issues. There should be recognition of carers, including young carers, so I thank him for mentioning them.

[Dr Chambers]

I thank the hon. Member for intervening just in time. I reiterate how pleased we were that the Minister looked at the amendments to identify children of mental health patients. Sometimes those children are essentially carers as well, and it is really important that we know they exist and that they get the support they need.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Kinnock]

There are 11 premier league clubs that have signed up so far. The most visual way in which the partnership will manifest itself is through the advertising hoardings, which will be given over for periods of the game to advertise our Every Mind Matters campaign. That will offer talking therapies and an online mental health tool that we have developed. Anybody in the stadium—often there are 50,000, 60,000 or 70,000 spectators—can see that information flashing up. In some stadiums, there will also be mental health experts—wearing visible materials to show who they are and what they do—who people can come and talk to. The scheme is quite devolved, so each club will do things in a slightly different way. The Premier League is covering all the costs, so this is an entirely Premier League-funded partnership, with us providing the content, the steering and the opportunity to engage with the programmes, and the clubs are looking after the rest.

[Chris Vince]

That is a really exciting initiative. Is there scope for it to be extended beyond premier league clubs to lower-league clubs, down to Harlow Town? If it is successful, will the Minister talk to the English Football Association about lower-league clubs taking part?

[Stephen Kinnock]

Absolutely—we believe the sky is the limit. As I mentioned to my hon. Friend the Member for Caerphilly, we are clear that we see this as the first step. Clearly, premier league clubs are high profile, so hopefully people will look at the partnership, learn from it and say, “Yes, that is something that we can do.” Fingers crossed that it takes off.

As part of the men’s health strategy launch, we also announced the suicide prevention support pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. The programme will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men face the greatest risk of suicide. It will support new ways of embedding effective, tailored support for middle-aged men and create clearer, more joined-up pathways into existing local suicide prevention systems. For over a decade, middle-aged men have faced the highest suicide rates of any age group. They account for around a quarter of all deaths by suicide in England. That is a shocking statistic, and it is why middle-aged men are identified as a priority group in the suicide prevention strategy for England.

It is important that we do not simplify the picture. The national confidential inquiry into suicide and safety in mental health found that of men aged 40 to 54 who died by suicide, 67% had been in contact with health and partner agencies in the three months before they took their own life, and 43% had been in contact with primary care services in the three months before they died. That tells us something vital: a significant proportion of men do reach out, presenting an opportunity to make the most of every interaction with men who may be at risk of suicide. Our responsibility as a Government is to ensure that when men take that step, the services they encounter are accessible, joined up and genuinely equipped to meet their needs. That is what the pathfinders programme will do.

By improving engagement with healthcare and improving access to the right support, we can begin to dismantle the stigma that continues to cost too many men their lives. In April this year, NHS England published its “Staying safe from suicide” guidance, which strengthens the approach to suicide prevention across mental health settings. It promotes a holistic, person-centred approach, rather than using stratification tools to determine risk. The guidance directly aligns with the aim of our suicide prevention strategy and reflects our commitment to continually improving mental health services, particularly by identifying risk assessment as an area where we must go further.

The implementation of the guidance has been supported by a new NHS England e-learning module, which launched in September, to help ensure that staff across services are confident and equipped to apply the guidance in practice. The NHS medium-term planning framework, published last month, states that in 2026-27, integrated care boards must

“ensure that mental health practitioners across all providers”

undertake the e-learning

“and deliver care in line with the Staying safe from suicide guidance.”

The Minister with responsibility for women’s health and mental health, who sits in the other place, wrote directly to crucial stakeholders across the sector—including the chief coroner, the Charity Commission, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, and the British Psychological Society—to promote the guidance and the e-learning module, and I am pleased to say that the response has been overwhelmingly positive. By way of example, the Charity Commission circulated information about the e-learning to around 5,000 charities involved in suicide prevention or mental health support—an encouraging demonstration of the sector’s commitment to improving safety and support for those at risk.

More widely, we are improving mental health services so that people are met with the right support. We recognise that expanding and equipping the workforce will take time, but I am pleased to say that we have hired almost 7,000 extra mental health workers since July 2024. Mental health remains a core priority for the NHS. That is why we are investing £688 million to transform services, including £26 million to support people in mental health crisis.

As part of the 10-year health plan’s commitment to transforming how the whole health and care system works, we are introducing neighbourhood mental health care for adults, which will bring community, crisis and in-patient care together in a single, seamless offer. Six neighbourhood mental health centres are already operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offering open-access support to anyone who needs it. Co-delivered with primary care, the voluntary and faith sectors, and local specialist services, the centres make it easier for people to seek help in their own communities, without judgment or barriers.

NHS 10-Year Plan

Chris Vince Excerpts

Thursday 3rd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question, and to her constituents for taking part in her local engagement event. This plan will ensure that more people receive the right care in the right place at the right time. It will deliver more neighbourhood health services under one roof, and more choice, convenience, power and control over healthcare. It will deliver access and support at the touch of a button, and personalised care. We are completely changing how we deliver healthcare in this century and meeting the needs of everyone. Thinking particularly about her constituency, we are making sure that we are supporting our armed forces, veterans and their families, so that they receive great outcomes, thanks to a great Labour MP in Aldershot and a Labour Government who deliver. I know that she will hold our feet to the fire to make sure that we deliver.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Health Secretary for his statement, and I promise not to lobby him too much on the potential move of the UK Health Security Agency to Harlow, although perhaps I should also lobby for a neighbourhood health centre. Instead, can I ask him to set out how the 10-year plan will ensure a shift from sickness to prevention? Medical professionals in my local hospital, the Princess Alexandra, emphasised that issue when I met them recently.

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is right that we need to not just treat sickness, but prevent illness. That was a strong message that we got from the public. He will see lots of good stuff on prevention in the plan, and I know that he will welcome it. On the location of the UK Health Security Agency, he may have inadvertently misled the House: he said he did not want to lobby me too much, but that is absolutely not true; he will not leave me alone on this issue. He lobbies me every single day. I can assure him we will make a decision on that issue shortly.

Incontinence

Chris Vince Excerpts

Thursday 19th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Sonia Kumar) on securing this important debate. It is great to have her experience of having worked as an NHS physio in the Chamber and she brings a unique perspective to the issue. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss) for mentioning the pelvic mesh scandal. Soon after my election as MP for Harlow, a number of women who are victims of the pelvic mesh scandal came to see me. Now, over a dozen women have approached me about it, and that is just in the Harlow constituency, so that gives us an idea about the huge number of women who have been affected by this terrible scandal.

I do not want to focus on the pelvic mesh scandal alone, not least because my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton West did it far more justice than I would. Whether people are the victim of a national scandal or they have bladder and bowel issues for any of the other reasons that my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley mentioned, nobody should be made to feel embarrassed. Talking to the women who were victims of the pelvic mesh scandal, I was struck by the journey they went on. When they initially had bladder and bowel problems, they felt really embarrassed, and it was only when they got to the point where they were in almost constant pain did they feel that they could come forward. What a terrible situation for people to be so embarrassed that they feel that they cannot come forward to the GP. We have to end that stigma.

I was not going to do so, but as we are in a safe space, I have decided to mention my own experience of suffering from IBS as a young person. It was almost a joke when we went on holiday—“We must make sure we are near a toilet so that Chris can go.” Actually, that should not be a stigma; it is a medical condition and people should understand it, support it and give others the support to deal with it.

To show solidarity with those who suffer from bladder and bowel issues, urinary incontinence impacts an estimated 14 million in the UK. As many Members have said already, if people suffer from such issues, they should not think that they are the only person to be suffering from them. A quick maths calculation tells me that that equates to roughly 20,000 people per constituency, so a significant number of our constituents will suffer from those issues. The cost to the NHS to deal with these issues is roughly £5 billion a year, and I wonder whether that bill would come down if we gave confidence to people who suffer from them to come forward sooner.

I have alluded to some of the symptoms, but there is a loss of dignity and independence, and a sense of social isolation. My hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and Solway (Markus Campbell-Savours) mentioned people who no longer go out because they are embarrassed—what a terrible situation for them to be in, and one that is entirely avoidable, if we could help to reduce the embarrassment and stigma that people feel.

I join my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley in asking the Minister about the collection of data on those impacted by the issue and supporting the need for a public health campaign. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for mentioning stomas. A young friend has a stoma and, having spoken to her about it, I am sure she would welcome ending the stigma associated with that.

I want to briefly mention women’s health. I recognise the vital contribution made by the hon. Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper) about the impact on men, but I welcome the fact that Health Ministers in this Government have championed the importance of health equality. I hear a number of stories from women in Harlow who feel that they are not taken seriously, and I hope that we can address that and that the Minister will respond to that in her summing up.

Finally, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley for bringing this hugely important debate to the House. I agree with sentiments raised by Members from across the House that this is the first step in ending the stigma. I hope we can work together to end the stigma and embarrassment; I know that this is just the start.

Spending Review: Health and Social Care

Chris Vince Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

After more than an hour of diligent bobbing, I call Chris Vince.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Apologies for my premature bobbing earlier, Madam Deputy Speaker.

I thank the Minister for her statement today and for her ongoing commitment to the NHS. I welcome the growth in day-to-day spending on the NHS and this Government’s commitment to bringing down NHS waiting times. However, may I gently advocate for Harlow in respect of the future of the UK Health Security Agency? It has a business case, details, designs and a site ready to go, and the estimated timeframe has consistently been assessed as the best value for money and the quickest to deliver.

[Karin Smyth]

I like how my hon. Friend says “gently”, because honestly no day goes past without him talking about this issue or, indeed, his new hospital. He is right, and he is a fantastic campaigner for the people of Harlow. He has made his point again, and I cannot make any further comment today, but he will be hearing from the Secretary of State soon on that issue.

Dementia Care

Chris Vince Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

It is a huge honour and privilege to follow the hon. Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies) and the many others who have shared personal family stories as well as stories about what is happening in their constituency. I truly welcome this debate and thank the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for securing it.

Dementia care is important to many of us in this House and to the communities we represent. I would like to start by putting on record my thanks to local dementia support teams and the families and volunteers involved for their work in my constituency. It seems fitting that we are discussing this matter during Volunteers’ Week, having heard many important contributions, particularly the remarks made by the right hon. Member for Wetherby and Easingwold (Sir Alec Shelbrooke), about how we can all play a personal role and encourage more volunteers in this space.

I want to put on record a particular shout-out to a volunteer in my constituency, Heather Hooper, a dementia friend ambassador who has done so much to help me in my journey of learning on this issue. Indeed, I thank all the volunteers in this space for their help and outreach work, including for helping me as a new constituency Member of Parliament, along with my team, to learn and understand not just what needs to change in the care system, but how we can support families and people with dementia when dealing with the casework requests that sadly come forward so often because of challenges in this area.

As many in this House will know, dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK, and one in two of us will be affected by this complex condition in our lifetime. The individual stories I have heard from local families and carers are so moving—perhaps some of the most moving casework I have received since being elected—and it is heartbreaking to hear about the lack of accessible care and support still faced by too many people. The facts and figures, beyond the human toll of the stories that we have heard, are stark. Dementia UK’s recent survey results are a hard read. Three quarters of respondents said that they did not receive the right care to meet their needs through the NHS, and 76% said that hospital care did not meet the specific needs of people with dementia. We cannot, and should not, accept that.

I am hopeful that in Peterborough we can make a positive change. In my constituency, there has been a recent debate about the future of our Dementia Resource Centre—a unique partnership between families, care workers and the city council, and one of just two in the country that follow such a model. The centre is, in effect, a one-stop centre for dementia sufferers and their families in the city. It offers vital services in the community that enable people to be diagnosed with dementia fast. It works in collaboration with GPs and the local authority, as well as with other bits of the health service—we have heard about how important that is—to give people with dementia and their loved ones the care and support they need. It also works to simplify the system so that it is based around their needs, rather than there being an expectation on too many people to navigate an already complex system, given the pressure that they may be experiencing. I thank the Alzheimer’s Society for its dedication and work alongside the council and other healthcare professionals.

With dementia rates only set to increase, centres of excellence like the one in Peterborough need to be promoted across the country, and we have heard about so many good examples already. That is why we have fought so hard to keep the centre open in our city. The story of our dementia centre in Peterborough will be familiar, with so many of its services involving local government. The accumulation of financial pressures on the council means that the authority is rationalising the estate. We have recently been through the traumatic experience of finding out whether the Dementia Resource Centre would continue to exist and where it would be moved to, but I am pleased to say that it is now safe.

Thanks to campaigners, families and the incredible work of Councillor Dr Shabina Qayyum—our council’s cabinet member for adult social care, who other hon. Friends will know—we have saved the centre and found a new home for it at Paston Farm community centre. That means not only that have we saved the centre; we have also created a bespoke area in which the council will continue to invest. It will provide a dedicated space for socialising, so that families and carers have something that is in their lives every day, alongside the professional medical care and healthcare that they need.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend is giving an incredibly powerful and trademark passionate speech. When he talks about the support that families need, will he also recognise the support that young people and particularly young carers need? To experience a loved one suffering from dementia must be incredibly challenging for younger people as well.

[Andrew Pakes]

My hon. Friend has answered his own question, given the passion with which he has told that story; the role of young carers is a story to which the House must bear witness. I know that my hon. Friend the Minister for Care is passionate about ensuring that those who care for loved ones facing health conditions get the recognition and support they need, so I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) for his question as well as the Minister, in recognition of the role he plays in this issue.

UK Health Security Agency: Porton Down

Chris Vince Excerpts

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

I am grateful, as ever, to the hon. Gentleman for his support this evening, and he anticipates some of the points I will make later on.

I want also to refer to the Public Accounts Committee, which opened an inquiry into the UKHSA health security campus last year. The Committee heard evidence from the outgoing chief executive Professor Dame Jenny Harries and Shona Dunn, the second permanent secretary, but it was unable to publish a full report owing to the Dissolution of Parliament and instead published its conclusions and recommendations in a letter in May last year. There is a lack of clarity over where we are with these plans, and my simple purpose today is to secure the Government’s assessment of where we are now, 10 months into the new Administration.

Since that Adjournment debate in 2010, four general elections have been fought and I have had five years as a Parliamentary Private Secretary and seven as a Minister in four roles, but since 2015 I have never been offered any briefing on the future of the facility at Porton and on whether that initial decision, given the events of recent years and a sixfold increase in the costs—rather more than inflation—will be followed through on. As the constituency MP, I am eager to get to the bottom of the matter, and in seeking an update from the Minister this evening—and I certainly do not hold her individually responsible, given that she has only been in post for just over 14 weeks—I do want to seek an understanding about the financial obligations of the programme.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[John Glen]

I am happy to give way to the Member representing Harlow.

[Chris Vince]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman, who will know why I am here. Obviously I will sing the merits of relocation to Harlow, but I think we would both agree that we really want a decision on this and to know whether there will be a move or not, because the constituents both of us represent are currently in limbo.

[John Glen]

I thank the hon. Gentleman who is very gracious in the way he puts over his point. It would be helpful for everyone in both our constituencies and for the country as a whole to know what is happening.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)]

I thank the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) for securing this important debate and for his passionate advocacy on behalf of his constituents for the vital work conducted by the UK Health Security Agency at its Porton Down site. I also take the opportunity to recognise the intervention from my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) and his passionate advocacy on behalf of his constituents.

Before I come to the decision-making process, I want to use this opportunity to reference some of the incredible work that takes place on the site. Whether it is advancing vaccine development to address global health threats, such as Mpox, or leading the world in evaluating vaccines to ensure that we have effective programmes that save countless lives, Porton Down stands as a pillar of excellence in our national health security infrastructure.

Through the UKHSA science strategy, we are committed to securing health and prosperity with partners in industry and academia. That is why we established the vaccine development and evaluation centre on the Porton Down site, securing learning from the pandemic and advancing our critical research on vaccines. Porton Down’s diagnostics capabilities are equally vital, providing the UK’s only 24/7 service for detecting rare and imported pathogens, including life-threatening diseases such as Marburg virus, Ebola and Lassa fever. The site also plays a unique role in environmental microbiology and biosafety, helping us to understand better how infections spread in real-world settings.

Porton Down’s role does not stop at healthcare. It reaches into our ecosystems, our food chain and our environment. Porton Down is a national leader in medical entomology, including the surveillance of invasive mosquitoes and ticks. Its work ensures that the UK can rapidly detect and respond to vector-borne diseases, protecting the public from threats before they gain a foothold. The site’s food, water and environmental microbiology teams provide additional expertise that is critical to national resilience and the Government’s work on climate change; but, crucially, the work of those globally leading teams requires the best facilities.

As the right hon. Member will know, many facilities on the site are ageing, and I appreciate that the people who work there need clarity on its future as quickly as possible. The Government are thoroughly assessing options for securing the facilities that are required for these highly specialist functions and services in the future.

[Chris Vince]

I could talk about the benefits of the Harlow site for a long time, and I often do, but on this occasion I will be brief. May I ask the Minister, when the Government are making those decisions, to take account of the fact that the Harlow site is very much shovel-ready and is ideally located, given its strong infrastructure and travel links and its proximity to existing health clusters? The site would very much future-proof this important work.

[Ashley Dalton]

I can assure my hon. Friend that the benefits of all options will be considered.

Mental Health Bill [Lords]

Chris Vince Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 19th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jen Craft]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue in more detail with him, although we will probably continue to disagree. People with learning disabilities and autism can suffer from mental health conditions as much as the rest of the population, but they have a unique set of challenges. I point out as a note to policymakers in general that they should not conflate learning disability and autism as one and the same thing. That is vital.

At the end of January 2025, 2,065 in-patients in locked mental health facilities were autistic or living with a learning disability. As one of my hon. Friends said earlier, the average length of stay for these patients is nearly five years. For those with a learning disability or autism, a locked mental health ward can be a living hell. For someone with sensory issues, a reliance on routine, a need for a specialist diet or equipment or myriad other needs, being in a busy, over-stimulating environment—often with strip lighting and minimal privacy—often means they are set up to fail from the very beginning.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend is making an important speech, and I know that her experience in this issue is almost second to none. She is making a point about how those with learning disabilities being confined in the way she suggests could add to their mental health issues. Supporting them in the community would alleviate a lot of those mental health issues. In the long term, that is better for them and for the community.

[Jen Craft]

I will come to that point a little later, but that confinement is detrimental to their mental health. It can sometimes be hard to pick apart a co-existing or co-occurring mental health condition from the behaviour exhibited within that environment. This is part of the reason that it is all but impossible for some detained individuals, in the circumstances they are in, to demonstrate the behaviour change they need to prove they have become sufficiently well to be released.

My attention was drawn last year to the case of a young woman called Bethany, who was detained for the best part of half a decade under the Mental Health Act. She is an autistic young woman whose parents believed that her entering a secure unit was the best choice. However, she ended up being locked up for days, weeks and then months on end in a room with only a mattress on the floor. She was unable to see her family or her support network, and her parents were absolutely devastated at being unable to get her out of that environment and seeing her continually deteriorate. It is hard to imagine the anguish of people seeing someone that they love go through this. When this happens to someone or their family, how on earth can they ever again trust the system that put them there? Learning disabled people and autistic people who have been through that have their confidence in accessing support taken away. In turn, that can create a vicious cycle.

I strongly welcome the moves that this Bill makes towards removing learning disability and autism as a reason alone for detention. However, similar to my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Kevin McKenna), I note that the Government have said that these changes to detention criteria will only be switched on when systems can demonstrate a sufficient level of community support. That is a source of real concern. As the NHS Confederation has warned, the

“success of the reforms will be dependent on the wider infrastructure to support”

the Bill. As others have said, there is no clarity on what a sufficient level of support means in practice. We do not know where we are heading or when we will have got there.

The most successful support for learning disabled and autistic people to live independently in their communities is integrated care that encompasses health, housing, occupation and much more besides. I would welcome the Minister’s assurances on how that will be delivered in the timescales set out and how we get from where we are now to where good is. The continual detention of people in this way should shame us all, and an end to that cannot come fast enough.

I sound a note of caution—I think this is fairly similar to that of the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge—that the legislation continues to allow for the co-occurrence of mental health conditions to be a reason to detain someone with a learning disability and autism. That in and of itself could lead to this continual cycle where people are detained for longer than is necessary for their treatment while in an environment that is entirely counterproductive to them becoming well. We also need those with a specialism in learning disability and autism to be present in assessing whether an individual also has a co-occurring mental health condition.

Finally, I put a plea in to the Minister that there is a real need for those who live with a learning disability or autism to be properly consulted. A number of disabled people’s charities that are run by people with a learning disability, such as the “Bring People Home from Hospital” campaign, which is operating under the auspices of Inclusion London, do not feel that they have had sufficient opportunity to input. A very minor point is that some relevant documents related to this legislation have not been printed in easy read. If they have, it has taken a while for them to arrive. People who have a lived experience of these conditions are unable to contribute in a meaningful way.

More broadly, I welcome the legislation’s attempt to make progress in putting patient voice at the heart of care, particularly through advance choice documents, but there is scope to go further. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is advocating for a statutory right to an advance choice document, which the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee also recommended. That would ensure that all patients who would benefit from one would get one, with the aim of reducing detentions and involuntary treatment. While I recognise the importance of this step and this legislation alongside the Government’s investment in mental health crisis centres, a pledge to recruit 8,500 mental health staff and the Secretary of State’s commitment to the mental health investment standard, there is a desperate need to transform community mental health services to put patient voice and experience at its heart and avoid the need for detention orders in the first place.

As a member of the Health and Social Care Committee, I have had the privilege of hearing from some extraordinarily courageous individuals who shared their experience of living with a serious mental illness. It is in that same spirit that I will share my own experience now. I hope that it offers an insight into the limitations of our current system.

I was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder as a teenager, and with bipolar disorder in my 20s. In two and half decades with these conditions I have received good care, but sadly that is the exception and not the rule. I have never been asked what it is that I want from treatment, what it is that I want for my life, and how I can be helped to get there. I have received care that is patronising, reductive, inconsistent and non-existent. During mental health crises I have had to tread a fine line between proving that I am ill, and sometimes extremely ill, and proving that I am not so ill that I need to lose my liberty, because I know that more often than not, treatment is based not on therapeutic care but on risk management. Like thousands of others, I have had to create my own care package and my own route to treatment, because I made the decision that I deserved to live, and I deserved to live well—and also that my children deserved their mum. However, I am very aware that my ability to do this is based on a number of privileges, in no small part a very supportive family, which so many do not have.

While I welcome the Bill for its advances in reducing the amount of detention and increasing the agency of those who are detained, I must call for a significant overhaul of community mental health services to prevent crises from occurring in the first place. We know that we can and must do better. I ask all Members to note that when we discuss people’s serious mental illnesses, we often talk as though they were “others”, which they are not. Let me say this: “There is someone standing here among you, a Member of Parliament, who has a serious mental illness. It does not prevent me from doing my job or from living my life; in some ways, it makes me better at it.” While the Bill continues its passage through Parliament, can we please bear in mind that we are talking about individuals, and individuals who will be affected by it, and that what we seek to do—and what I hope we will accomplish—is give people who live with serious mental illnesses the ability and the right to live the best lives that they possibly can, with all the support that we can make available?

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[Josh MacAlister]

I thank my constituency neighbour for suggesting the types of solutions that we should look at. Some areas of the country have much higher rates of suicide than others, and we know far too little about why those areas have those trends.

Around half of children in care are expected to have some sort of mental health disorder, and they are estimated to be four to five times more likely than the rest of the child population to have a mental health need. Despite that, children in care are disproportionately rejected for support from CAMHS services, and this builds up unmet mental health needs for which we as a country are paying the price in social and economic costs further down the line.

Just one example of that is the surge in deprivation of liberty orders that we have seen in recent years. In 2017-18, there were 103 applications; in 2024, the figure was 1,280. Deprivation of liberty order applications often leave judges in our family courts with impossible choices over the secure accommodation option for children. Young people who grow up in the care system should receive the very best that our country has to offer, with help being speedy and tailored. Although wider changes are needed to make that a reality, humanising our mental health legislation in the ways set out in this Bill will make a difference.

[Chris Vince]

My hon. Friend has talked with real passion and expertise about children in care, and he makes some really important points. Does he agree that the mental health support we give to young carers—young people who support a family member—is equally important? They make such a huge difference to our communities and the NHS, and they too should be supported.

[Josh MacAlister]

Absolutely. We need to support young carers and young people in care. One of the common challenges facing both of those populations is that services sometimes fail to look at what support can be provided to the whole family unit, so I take my hon. Friend’s point.

Finally, I will say a few words about a sensitive issue that is a growing trend. Most weeks, I visit a school in my constituency, and there is a growing theme: teachers, and now parents, are raising concerns about the potential over-diagnosis or misdiagnosis of ADHD and mild autism. I raise this point for two reasons: first, because the risk is that the scale of the increase in diagnosis is so great that it may take away much-needed mental health services from those with acute and genuine need; and secondly, because we have yet to grasp the potential negative impacts of treating what may be social challenges as medical disorders.

Some 400,000 children are currently awaiting an ADHD assessment, and rates of diagnosis have risen sharply in recent years. Diagnosis varies dramatically depending on where someone lives, who does the assessment and, worryingly, the socioeconomic background of the individual.