Youth Mental Health Support

Fred Thomas Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Anna Dixon]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising such a great example of wellbeing and prevention. It is vital that, alongside the specialist services that are needed, we do more on prevention and early intervention.

Before I move on to youth services and prevention, I want to make a final point about the health service. In West Yorkshire, the integrated care boards introduced a cap on appointments for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder assessments. When they reached the cap, they simply stopped seeing patients, which meant that more patients had to wait longer. I urge the Minister to look into this ICB practice and implement funding and workforce plans to tackle the waiting times in mental health with the same gusto with which Ministers have successfully addressed elective waiting times for surgery and cancer diagnostics.

I will briefly move on to youth services, which has already been mentioned by my hon. Friends and colleagues. Early intervention and prevention are key. Schools and families play a role, but for many young people the opportunity to play, be physically active and participate in activities with other young people can boost their mental health. That is why youth services in our community and voluntary sector are so vital.

The previous Government crippled our youth services, funding for which declined by 73% in England between 2010 and 2023. Despite that, the previously Labour-led Bradford council fought to protect our local youth services. Reform is now in charge in Bradford, and I hope it follow the leadership shown by Labour and ensure that youth services remain available for young people across my constituency.

I have had the pleasure of visiting some of the fantastic provision for young people in my constituency. I would like to shout out Bingley Youth Café, Bolton Woods Community Centre, Denholme Youth Café and Health Action Local Engagement in Bradford, which all provide a safe space for young people to meet; outdoor facilities such as the skate park in Myrtle park and the fantastic new pump track in Burley in Wharfedale, which opened at the weekend—I thank Bradford Community Trust and parish council for all their work to support that project.

I want to shout out the brilliant sports clubs, such as Harden cricket club and Crossflatts cricket club, which both have very popular youth sections, as well as many football, rugby and running clubs. Many uniformed organisations, including Scouts, Guides and Cadets meeting across the villages and towns of my Shipley constituency, provide young people with a huge variety of opportunities to learn skills and develop; and finally, churches and mosques also provide vital support to children and families.

I am excited to soon visit the Slice of Life project run by the Methodist church in Burley in Wharfedale, which runs a pizza van to engage young people on the street. These amazing organisations rely on volunteers giving up time to work with young people. I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone involved. However, they also need money, which is why funding and grants for grassroot sport and youth organisations is so vital.

It is also essential that we have professional youth workers, police and other formal services available to support these voluntary community groups. That is why this Friday I am bringing together youth organisations, community groups, and other key local stakeholders to see how we can strengthen the youth offer in Shipley. I would be grateful if the Minister could work with colleagues in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure funding for this sort of provision is prioritised, given the positive contribution it makes to supporting young people’s mental health.

As I mentioned, before I finish, I want to talk about social media, which is clearly a crucial factor in the rise of young people’s mental health problems. As part of Mental Health Awareness Week this year, I asked constituents to share their personal experiences with me. I would like to thank the almost 700 constituents who have been in touch. My constituent Michael is a parent of three. He wrote about the nightly battle with his children when they were between the ages of 14 and 16, over their desperation to have their phones in their rooms with them overnight so that they could check social media and not miss out on contact with friends.

Despite the exhaustion of the continued struggle and the resulting strain on family life, Michael persisted, because he knew how damaging social media can be to sleep health. By the age of 16, his children had given up the fight. Michael had protected their sleep through crucial years of development and study. This is a battle that parents should not be fighting alone, and they are in desperate need of stronger regulation of social media access and function.

[Fred Thomas (Plymouth Moor View) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend share the concern I have from conversations in Plymouth about the deep harm caused to mental health by some social media? Is she aware that the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has warned of an epidemic of harm to children

“continuously exposed to hateful, addictive and grossly distressing content”?

[Anna Dixon]

I have great respect for the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and my hon. Friend’s work to highlight the harms of social media and its addictive nature. I agree with him, and we must do all we can to protect children from these impacts and to hold tech companies to account when they continue to exploit young people through addictive algorithms and expose them to harm and abuse. I therefore fully support the measures in the Online Safety Act 2023 and the Government’s consultation to go further to protect our children from online harms.

I urge the Minister to call this out as a public health emergency, and to work closely with colleagues in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and urge them to act boldly and decisively to put the wellbeing of children and young people above the financial interests of tech companies.

NHS: Winter Preparedness

Fred Thomas Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the hon. Member for being helpful in two ways. First, it is always good to hear voices from the right making the case for vaccine uptake. That contrasts the Conservative party starkly with Reform UK, which we hear peddle anti-science nonsense. Secondly, I thank him for reminding resident doctors and the BMA of what they used to have when the Conservative party was in government. Maybe I do not look so unreasonable after all.

[Fred Thomas (Plymouth Moor View) (Lab)]

I want to place on the record my immense thanks to staff at Derriford hospital in Plymouth, who are working tirelessly to keep people safe during the busiest winter yet. I am sure that the Secretary of State will want to join me in giving those thanks. The south-west has seen a 93% increase on last year in the number of beds taken up by those with flu. Does the Secretary of State agree that the run-up to Christmas is a dangerous and reckless time for doctors to go on strike? What would he say to all the other staff at Derriford, who will have to take up that work on the frontline as we approach Christmas?

[Wes Streeting]

First, I thank the staff of Derriford hospital. I have visited it a number of times over the years, and have seen them coping with pressures at the height of summer, during peak tourist season, and in the depths of winter; I was there this time last year. They do a really good job in very difficult circumstances, and my hon. Friend champions them regularly and consistently, publicly and privately.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the challenges that we face in our urgent and emergency departments. Our urgent and emergency care plan addresses the underlying issues that he raises, but of course, we have more to do in the coming weeks to help manage the NHS through this winter, and we are already reflecting on how we will plan for next winter, too.

NHS Funding: South-west

Fred Thomas Excerpts

Wednesday 11th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq, and a privilege to contribute to this important debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Torbay (Steve Darling) on securing the debate at such a timely point, following today’s spending review.

The focus on NHS funding, particularly in underserved regions such as the south-west, is welcome, so that every area of the UK is properly equipped to meet the healthcare needs of all communities. I, too, represent a predominantly rural constituency, so I am keenly aware of the unique challenges in healthcare provision facing remote areas. Geography should not be a barrier to treatment, but for many in the south-west and beyond, it still is.

We heard in the spending review today that the NHS will receive a substantial cash uplift. We must ensure this money is spent in the most effective way possible. We do not have the allocations yet, but can the Minister enlighten us on whether there will be an amount allocated particularly for rural healthcare. The spending review document talks about efficiencies of £9 billion to be achieved by the Department of Health and Social Care. Can the Minister elaborate on how those efficiencies will be achieved?

Much has been said already about the financial pressures facing integrated care boards. The Government’s proposal to restructure NHS clusters in the south-west into larger conglomerates is presented as a move towards greater efficiency, but care must be taken that this does not come at the expense of local responsiveness or patient outcomes. NHS England is legally required to assess the performance of each ICB annually and publish its findings. However, the Government have decided at the same time to abolish NHS England—a decision they took without a proper impact assessment.

[Fred Thomas (Plymouth Moor View) (Lab)]

The hon. Member mentions patient outcomes, but in Plymouth we have patients awaiting assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder being left in limbo and unable to move forwards. Does she agree that the current refusal by some GPs to enter into shared care agreements is effectively blocking access to a diagnosis for adults pursuing ADHD assessments through the right to choose?

[Dr Johnson]

I would need to look at that separately and come back to the hon. Member on it, although he should perhaps direct his question to the Minister, as she has control at the Department at the moment.

The problem with cutting both the ICBs and NHS England is that it risks destabilising the very structures that are designed to deliver care simultaneously. The chief executive of NHS England has stated that legislation will be required to change the duties on ICBs. When do the Government intend to introduce the health Bill and, when they do so, can the Minister rule out the removal of the duty in the Health and Care Act 2022 requiring integrated care systems to commission dental services?

In paragraph 5.12 of the spending review, the Government say that 92% of patients will start consultant-led treatment for non-urgent health conditions within 18 weeks, but The Times has reported that the figure is closer to 80%. Can the Minister please clarify where the 92% figure has come from, and if she is unable to do so today, will she write to me?

Much of this debate has been about infrastructure. Since the last general election, Ministers have pledged to deliver the new hospitals programme in full, without caveats or conditions. However, in Torbay, for example, the rebuilding has been pushed back, with construction now expected to begin between 2033 and 2035. Thanks to the efforts of my hon. Friend the Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith), Ministers have given the greenlight to rebuilding Derriford hospital’s new accident and emergency facility. Can the Minister confirm if there are plans to bring any of the other projects forward?

Let me turn to national insurance contributions. The Royal College of General Practitioners has described the national insurance increase as,

“the straw that breaks the camel’s back, forcing them to make tough decisions on redundancies or even closing their practice”.

The Government’s promise to recruit more GPs is welcome, but hiking national insurance puts that pledge in jeopardy, as GPs will have no choice but to cut staff numbers. This is a false economy, so will the Minister use any of the money allocated today to help those services, such as GPs, air ambulances, hospices, pharmacies and others, that are affected by the national insurance contribution rise?

It will not have escaped Members’ notice that, despite the Chancellor promising that the NHS plan would arrive by spring, we are now at the start of summer—indeed, the Government promised that they had one before the election last year. Will the Minister provide some clarity on when we can expect this long-awaited plan?