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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the mental health implications for (a) tenants and (b) homeowners who are experiencing severe (i) anti-social behaviour and (ii) noise nuisance problems from their neighbours.

The Government recognises the debilitating effect that anti-social behaviour has on individual victims and wider communities, particularly those suffering from mental health issues.

We remain committed to supporting everyone’s mental health, and our ambitions in the NHS Long Term Plan to expand and transform mental health services in England that mean we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year in mental health services by 2023/24. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people, and 370,000 adults, benefitting from specialist mental health care if they need it.

In November we published The Charter for Social Housing Residents Social Housing White Paper which sets out measures to clarify the roles and responsibilities of agencies involved in tackling anti-social behaviour and support the resolution of issues for residents.

The White Paper also sets out that we will establish a review of professional training and development to consider the appropriate qualifications and standards for social housing staff. The review will include consideration of best practice for delivering support on mental health to ensure staff have the appropriate skills and knowledge.