Mental Health Services

(asked on 28th November 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for mental health.


Answered by
Norman Lamb Portrait
Norman Lamb
This question was answered on 5th December 2014

We have scrutinised clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) spending plans to ensure mental health services are getting the priority they need.

The Department and NHS England continue to work together to ensure that there are consistent messages to commissioners and providers about the importance of delivering parity of esteem for mental health services and service users.

Funding for mental health has increased by £302 million in 2014-15, total mental health spending rose from £11.362 billion in 2013-14 with £11.664 billion planned in 2014-15. This includes spend on primary care and specialist commissioning.

In our new five-year plan for mental health, Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020, we identified £40 million additional spending this year and freed up a further £80 million for 2015-16. This will, for the first time ever, enable the setting of access and waiting time standards in mental health services.

We will also be investing £30 million a year over the next five years in England to improve services for young people with mental health problems, this will place particular emphasis on eating disorders.

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