Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to reduce mental health stigma and discrimination as a result of signing up to the Time to Change Pledge.

The Department is strongly committed to positively addressing these issues and since signing the Pledge in 2013, has trained staff in mental health first aid and run several courses to better equip staff and managers in dealing positively with mental health issues. The Department has also trained and supported staff to act as Mental Health Ambassadors refreshing that group and role in March this year and enabling them to raise awareness of mental health issues and reduce the fear and stigma that often does attach to those illnesses. We have also run a number of Mental Health Awareness Workshops to support that work and have offered places on those sessions to staff from other Government Departments so that we can support the wider positive approach to addressing mental health across the Civil Service. The Department is now developing a Wellbeing Plan that will focus on continuing and resourcing this drive into 2015-16 and beyond.