House of Commons – Dec. 9, 2015 – 146

I beg to move, That this House believes that mental health should be treated with the same priority as physical health and recognises the importance of promoting good mental health from childhood through to adulthood;

believes that not enough progress has been made in translating this House’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health into practice;

notes with concern that the King’s Fund has reported widespread evidence of poor-quality care across mental health services, and the latest available figures show a rise in suicide rates and the number of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983 increasing by 10 per cent in the past year alone;

further notes the delay in the publication of NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce report;

notes the concerns that have been raised with the Scottish Government regarding the rate of inappropriate admissions of young people to non-specialist facilities for mental health treatment which have increased by 38 per cent since 2011;

is concerned by the absence of data on NHS spending on mental health services since 2011-12;

opposes the Government’s decision not to enshrine the right to psychological therapies in the NHS Constitution;

and calls on the Government to urgently rectify this systemic inequity in entitlement to treatments, reinstate the annual survey of investment in mental health services and develop and implement in full a new strategy to improve the Government’s cross-departmental response to mental health.