Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Gordon Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

Q7. Much like the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth), my constituents are served by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys mental health trust. They face travelling to York or Middlesbrough for local in-patient beds, with some people being sent as far afield as Glasgow or Southampton. This is completely unacceptable, and we need a provision of local mental health in-patient beds. I welcome the openness to an inquiry into TEWV, but my concern is that while that is going on, we need real action so that the continued failings do not see the loss of any other lives. What steps will the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State take now to reassure our constituents and to rebuild trust in TEWV?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman will have heard my response to my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) a moment ago; I say again that what happened to his constituents is unacceptable, and we will give the answer as soon as we can. In the meantime, the hon. Member asks what is happening. We are getting on with recruiting 6,700 additional NHS mental health staff, we are building 85 new dedicated mental health emergency departments, and we have boosted NHS spending on mental health by almost £700 million.