Oral Answers to Questions

Calum Miller Excerpts

Tuesday 14th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s question. She is absolutely right, and it is an area I worked on myself as a local NHS manager. It is crucial to have that link between health and local government. That will dictate most of the social determinants of health, as she well knows from her own expertise serving the population. That is why our 10-year plan commits to strengthening joint working, so that we will have better alignment across ICBs and strategic boundaries where possible, including in her area of Sussex, as well as that work with local governments to improve local population health as part of our neighbourhood health plans.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

4. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the mental health investment standard on access to mental health services.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Dr Zubir Ahmed)]

Mental health funding will rise by £140 million in real terms this year, reaching a record £16.1 billion. That is on top of capital investment of £473 million over four years to deliver new models of care and digital transformation. However, improving mental health services is about more than money because, despite the money from the last Government, they presided over a dramatic increase in mental health distress and waiting lists spiralling out of control. This Government will combine investment with reform to reduce waiting times, improve the quality of care, and strengthen prevention and early intervention.

[Calum Miller]

In my constituency, too many families face long and distressing waits for mental health support for children and young people. When I raised this with the Secretary of State some 15 months ago, he said that the Government were determined to ensure that mental health waits receive the same focus as the elective backlog. Yet a constituent recently wrote to me to explain that her son is waiting 10 months just for an assessment for his mental health needs. She asked me:

“How can we as parents and carers be expected to watch our young people suffer for a whole year before they get any help?”

I am worried that the revised mental health investment standard will not help this problem sufficiently. Can the Minister tell my constituents when child and adolescent mental health waiting lists will start to fall?

[Dr Ahmed]

The case that the hon. Gentleman highlights is indicative of the fact that much work has been done and much more needs to be done. We are providing early intervention for children’s mental health and wellbeing by rolling out mental health support teams, which will happen in every school by 2029. We are investing £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff, so that they can offer more support to young people with complex needs. We are ensuring that, as we are digitally transforming, children and adults can access talking therapies where required. A lot has been done and there is a lot more to do, and we will carry on doing it.