Oral Answers to Questions

Pat Glass Excerpts

Tuesday 7th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Angela Rayner (Ashton-under-Lyne) (Lab)]

7. What progress the Government have made on achieving parity of esteem for physical and mental health services.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

15. What progress the Government have made on achieving parity of esteem for physical and mental health services.

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

The Government take mental health as seriously as physical health. We have introduced legislation to ensure parity of esteem, and with additional investment and the first access and waiting standards for mental health, we will hold to account and work with the NHS to achieve that aim.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alistair Burt]

I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Matthew Pennycook). Mental health funding is increasing, and parity of esteem is demonstrated by having access targets and targets for waiting times for the first time. Those measures could have been introduced by a previous Government but they were not, and the demonstration of parity of esteem shown by that legislation and by the increase in investment should help to reassure the hon. Lady’s constituents. I pay tribute to those who work in a voluntary capacity to assist those with mental health issues.

[Pat Glass]

In the previous Parliament the Education Select Committee said that child and adolescent mental health services were not fit for purpose, and it called them a “national scandal”. The situation is getting worse, with children and families left for up to five months without appointments. What is the Minister doing to deal with that national scandal?

[Alistair Burt]

The way that children and young persons’ mental health services have been handled over a lengthy period has been extremely poor, and many MPs have similar concerns on behalf of their constituents. That is why one of my major priorities for this Parliament is to build on the good work of the previous coalition Government, with £1.25 billion to be spent on transforming care services for children and young persons—a commitment that I think the Labour party would struggle to match.