Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Lavery Excerpts

Tuesday 6th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

We are increasingly contracting with labs like the ones my hon. Friend mentions—as well as the Lighthouse labs, which have huge capacity—to make sure that we can both increase capacity and reduce the turnaround time. I am glad to say that the latest figures for the past week showed that the turnaround time is coming down, which is important in Kent and right throughout the country.

[Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)]

What steps he is taking to equalise the provision of resources allocated to mental health services for (a) children and (b) young adults.

[The Minister for Patient Safety, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (Ms Nadine Dorries)]

As I said in an answer to the hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan), we are committed to spending on children and young people’s mental health services, which is growing faster than the overall spend on mental health, and the overall spending itself is growing faster than the NHS budget.

[Ian Lavery [V]]

See, Hear, Respond, a new service managed by Barnardo’s in response to covid-19, to provide early intervention support for families and children in crisis, has received more than 11,000 referrals since June. The majority of children and young people referred need support for their mental health and wellbeing. What early intervention measures have been introduced? Are they enough? Does the Minister agree that early intervention measures are key to tackling the increase in children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing needs?

[Ms Dorries]

I could not agree with the hon. Gentleman more. The Government’s £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme, which is to support staff to respond to the emotional, mental health and wellbeing pressures that some children have experienced during the pandemic, is in place. As I have said, the last train the trainer session took place last week and those trainers are ready to go into primary schools to assist both teachers and parents to recognise when children display early signs of emotional distress or mental health issues as a result of the pandemic. I have been working closely with the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford), to ensure that this programme is in place to address exactly the needs that he has highlighted.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matt Hancock]

The level of cases matters, but so too does the direction of travel, and when the number of cases is falling—especially if it is falling rapidly—that is the sort of indicator that we will look at. One example is the action we took in Leicester a few months ago now, where we removed some of the most restrictive measures when the numbers were coming down sharply.

[Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab) [V]]

  Please, please, Secretary of State, my constituents need extra support. Despite the outstanding efforts of the staff at Northumberland County Council, covid-19 is running rife through our towns and villages. Since stricter local lockdown measures were introduced, we have seen a huge increase in transmission levels. Parts of Ashington, Bedlington, Morpeth and Newbiggin have seen rates of almost 500 per 100,000. Secretary of State, please help us.

[Matt Hancock]

I am very worried about the rates of transmission in the north-east, as I am about parts of the north-west of England. I look forward to working with the hon. Gentleman and colleagues from across the regions affected to take the action necessary to suppress this virus and to support the economy, education and the NHS right across this land.