Health: Talking Therapy

Lord Patel of Bradford Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I can assure my noble friend that Health Education England has it in its sights to make sure that sufficient numbers of professionals are trained in the talking therapies, and that work is ongoing.

[Lord Patel of Bradford (Lab)]

My Lords, following on from what the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, said about having staff who can provide appropriate talking therapies, and what the Minister himself said about someone who needs a service receiving it, we have a long history in the mental health field of mental health practitioners not referring certain minority-ethnic groups such as the south Asian and black African communities for talking therapies. I believe that that is still the case with referrals to the CBT programme. What are the Government doing to address this imbalance?

[Earl Howe]

I can tell the noble Lord that IAPT is working with a number of BME groups to promote wider access to the service from all sections of the community. A grant scheme will shortly be launched to encourage community-based interventions to increase uptake of talking therapies, including from BME groups.