Oral Answers to Questions

Tim Roca Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

9. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to NHS mental health services.

[Tim Roca (Macclesfield) (Lab)]

20. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to NHS mental health services.

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Mohammad Yasin) on his re-election and my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Tim Roca) on his election. More than a million people with mental health issues are not getting the support they need. This Government will fix our broken NHS. That will include recruiting 8,500 mental health workers, including specialist mental health professionals in every school and rolling out young futures hubs in every community. As announced in the Gracious Speech, we are bringing forward legislation to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983, which is a hugely significant step that has been warmly welcomed by service users, campaigners and, indeed, the former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May.

[Stephen Kinnock]

I know that my hon. Friend has been campaigning with great passion and conviction on this issue for some time, and I am in no doubt that his integrated care board will have listened carefully to every word that he has said today. I would be pleased to meet him so that we can discuss this matter in greater detail.

[Tim Roca]

The Prime Minister has been clear that the Government will make, unlike their predecessor, evidence-based policy. While the NHS has made some high-level progress, the figures for those waiting for mental health elective care remains unacceptably high, but the data is incomplete. Does the Minister agree that comprehensive data is crucial if we are to serve the patients we care about?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I welcome my hon. Friend warmly to his place. I hope he will not mind if I use this analogy, which is that you cannot make a prescription unless you have the diagnosis, and you cannot make policy on the hoof. We cannot have the chaos, neglect and failure that we have seen from the Conservatives for the past 14 years because they have not made policy based on evidence and data. I am absolutely on board with what my hon. Friend says, and I would be more than happy to discuss it with him further at his convenience.