Browse content similar to 09/12/2015. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Border. Order. Mr Tim Farron. The Minister of State on Monday was | :00:00. | :00:13. | |
questioned about funds to the EU solidarity fund to help cithzens | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
like mine suffering the after-effects of the flight, she was | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
not aware of that at the tile. With the be a statement in the House | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
about how this government c`n claim from the EU solidarity fund for | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
those in Cumbria suffering the effects of the floods? I recall the | :00:36. | :00:43. | |
discussion he alludes to. I have had no consideration to a statelent on | :00:44. | :00:50. | |
that matter but the acid duty of the honourable gentleman and his | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
ingenuity are as close to ldgendary as makes no difference and therefore | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
if he is dissatisfied in thdse two calm, I have a hunch that hd will | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
try to end Stewart the mattdr can be aired not with me but with the | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
minister. - insular the matter can be aired. If no further points of | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
order we come now to the ten minute rule motion. The honourable | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
gentleman is smiling in eagdr anticipation. Sammy Wilson. I beg | :01:26. | :01:35. | |
that leave be given to me to bring in a bill to establish an Armed | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
Forces Coquelin seat to makd revision about the requiremdnts and | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
obligations upon public authorities and in relation to serving `nd | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
former members of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, maintained within that | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
scheme and to establish means of audit and accountability in relation | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
to the poor performance of the scheme against its objectivd. To | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
mind the policy act 2010 and the Northern Ireland act 1988 for the | :02:07. | :02:16. | |
connecting purposes. Mr Spe`ker our Armed Forces are one of the | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
institutions that bind the Tnited Kingdom together. The sacrifices | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
they have made over generathons are a common loss that presents as with | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
an obligation towards those who have volunteered to put themselvds in | :02:34. | :02:41. | |
harm 's way on our behalf. Lemorials in every art and part of thd UK | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
stand as the sad testimony to their sacrifices and for these re`sons the | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
full Millman of the militarx covenant should be a cause that has | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
support. - fulfilment of thd military covenant. It is not a new | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
one but the legacy of campahgns in Northern Ireland, the Iraq war is | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
and the Afghanistan conflict have led to renewed focus on what it | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
means and how it is to be ddlivered. The term moral is not one... It is | :03:16. | :03:23. | |
nearly used in these post-modernist times but it is right when the call | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
and is described as the mor`l obligation to members of thd Armed | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
Forces and their families. That is exactly what it was, is and forever | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
will be. Therefore it is an obligation that should be ftlfilled | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
in letter and spirit across the UK. Sadly, it is not and that is why I | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
present this will today. Good at this point Mr Speaker the tribute to | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
Mrs Brenda Heal, it DUP member of the Northern Ireland assembly who | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
lost her husband in Afghanistan and has championed this cause on behalf | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
of all service men and servhcewomen in Northern Ireland. In Northern | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
Ireland by the government's on admission the covenant is not being | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
fulfilled. The Northern Ireland Office has previously claimdd that | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
93% of it is an fulfilled. That figure has not been independently | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
assessed and when I outline some of the problems members may wonder how | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
that figure was reached. However, for the moment, let us take their | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
word and ask two simple questions. When battle as a member of the royal | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
air force, the Royal Navy ordered the army risk 93% for their country | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
and Conrad 's? Of course thdy do not. The risk everything. The risk | :04:52. | :04:59. | |
all. Within an battle does ` member of the Royal in force, Royal Navy or | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
the army who comes from Northern Ireland orderlies in Northern | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
Ireland only risk 93% while those in Great Britain risk 100%? Of course | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
they do not. The risk all jtst the same as service men in other parts | :05:16. | :05:22. | |
of the UK so, we are we failing in our moral obligation? The d`rk for | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
timely areas in which the covenant is not been fulfilled. Firstly in | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
priority of treatment in thd National Health Service for window | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
and sick veterans. Subject to the clinical need of others wounded and | :05:37. | :05:45. | |
sick veterans are entitled to try oddity NHS treatment in GB for | :05:46. | :05:53. | |
conditions which are attribttable to their service in the Armed Forces. | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
That is not available in thd same weight for veterans in Northern | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
Ireland, not only because they are reluctant to the clear prevhous | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
Armed Forces service on sectrity grounds but because of the Northern | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
Ireland act 1988 but secondly because when it comes to prhority | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
for social housing, local authorities in GB are to consider | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
service leaders - service ldaders as though they have local area. This is | :06:22. | :06:33. | |
not the case in Northern Irdland because of section 75 of thd | :06:34. | :06:42. | |
Northern Ireland act 1988. Thirdly, revision for IVF treatment hs not | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
available on the same grounds for certain veterans who requird IVF | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
treatment because of servicd related injuries there are three entitlement | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
cycles in Scotland and Engl`nd. Only one is available in Northern Ireland | :06:59. | :07:05. | |
and the cost of each cycle costs about ?3500 of all the numbdrs are | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
small. Fourthly, when it coles to the waving of domestic rates or | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
council tax for unoccupied property in GB it is a 50% discount on | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
council tax in respect of elpty properties owned by service | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
personnel who live elsewherd as a result of serving in the Arled | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
Forces. This valuable concession is not available in Northern Ireland. | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
With members seeing issues `s important as health and housing | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
being failure is it is legitimate to question a higher failure r`te of | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
only 7% an arise at by the Northern Ireland Office. This is a f`ilure of | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
the liberty not just one or be slow and disconnected uropathy btt due to | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
the particular circumstances in Northern Ireland and in particular | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
section 75 requirements which requires key groups are enthtled to | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
protection and is now interpreted as a legal barrier to the covenant in | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
Northern Ireland. A law judge review of the system by the GM recognises | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
that barrier and it was a proposal to Parliament to amend secthon 5 to | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
enable service leaders - service leaders and veterans to get the | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
service they deserve. Neither the Ministry of Defdnce or | :08:28. | :08:36. | |
Northern Irish office have `cted on this, despite the fact that the | :08:37. | :08:38. | |
amendments was changed to include travellers. I find it hard to | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
understand when is of the travelling community should be regarded by the | :08:44. | :08:53. | |
Northern Irish office to be -- should receive preventive treatments | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
to members of the Armed Forces. The Ashcroft proposal would fit with the | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
approach taken in America whth the Civil Rights act of 64, which | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
implements specific protecthon for government action for veter`ns. | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
Alternatively there is a proposal for my party's West Mr manifesto | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
that rather than exempting decadence from section 75 they should be | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
afforded the same protections as section 75 trips. I accept that this | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
proposal does not have univdrsal acceptance in Northern Irel`nd and | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
no doubt is one of the reasons for the reluctance of the NI all to | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
bring forward changes to thd act, Sinn Fein and the SDLP have opposed | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
the changes needed to enabld the full and fermentation of thd | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
military covenant and many find their attitude is disappointing and | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
disgraceful. Those are signhng up to join the Armed Forces do not | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
exclusively come from the Protestant and Unionist community, the services | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
recruits from all areas, figs and political allegiances in northern | :09:55. | :10:01. | |
Ireland yet both Sinn Fein `nd the SDLP seem happy to abandon them In | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
conclusion Mr Speaker are moral obligation is not met unless it is | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
wholeheartedly actually met. In Northern Ireland it is not being met | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
and thus in the United Kingdom as a whole the moral obligation hs not | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
being fulfilled. Today I have shown the failures, I have offered this | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
has solutions, this Parliamdnt must now commit itself and acts to fulfil | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
the moral obligations to melbers of the Armed Forces and their families. | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
The question is that the honourable member have leave to bring hn the | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
bill, as many in favour say hi. To the contrary, no. The ayes have it, | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
the ayes have it. Who will prepare and bring in the Bill? Mr D`vid | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
Nuttall, Kate Hoey, Jim Shannon Gordon Henderson, Esther Grdgory | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
Campbell, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, Mr Nigel dogs and you'd easily. And | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
yourself. Indeed. Armed Forces covenant implelentation | :11:05. | :11:44. | |
United Kingdom built. Second reading what day? 9th of January -- 29th of | :11:45. | :11:53. | |
January 20 16. 29th of Janu`ry 0 16. We come now to the opposition | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
day, 12 allotted day in the first of our two scheduled debates, this | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
being on the subject of mental health. On an opposition dax motion | :12:04. | :12:11. | |
in the name of the leader. H can inform the house that the alendment | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
has not been selected to move the motion, I called the Shadow Minister | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
for mental health, Luciana Berger. Thank you Mr Speaker and I beg to | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
move the motion standing in my name and that of my right honour`ble and | :12:28. | :12:29. | |
honourable friends on the order paper. It is a privilege to the | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
opening is opposition day ddbate today as the first Shadow Mhnister | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
for mental health. The fact that we are having this debate is today is | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
testament to just how seriotsly the opposition considers mental health, | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
an issue that affects one in four of us every year. Yet one which has | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
been neglected for far too long Mental health has come out of the | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
shadows in recent years, and I know that there are many members on all | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
sides of the house feel verx strongly about this issue. There | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
have been many important stdps forward. Ask anyone with a lental | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
health condition and they whll tell you that they still face sthgma | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
prejudice and discrimination. Sadly there remain many areas where there | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
has not been the progress that we had hoped for. We on this shde of | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
the house have deep concerns about our nation's mental health `nd the | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
services and support that is available. Mr Speaker of thd years | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
ago it was my colleagues, mx bigger colleagues in the House of Lords who | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
won the fight to ensure that the government give parity of esteem | :13:37. | :13:38. | |
between mental health and physical health in the law. The gap between | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
the reticle year from this government and the reality from | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
patients on the ground is whder I am sure members on all sides of the | :13:50. | :13:52. | |
house have many constituencx cases that echo these concerns, in the | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
first few months I have been in this position I have been struck by the | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
thousands of messages from people up and down the country. They `re | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
desperate to see a change in how our society approaches mental hdalth. | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
The strength of feeling is not surprising. On this governmdnt's | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
watch there has been an increase in the number of patients who report a | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
perfect space -- the experidnce of community mental health card. There | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
are more patients that are having to travel hundreds of miles just to get | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
the bed. The number of children being treated in adult wards, | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
something the Mental Health Act rightly says it should not happen, | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
has risen again this year. The number of people becoming so ill | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
that they must be detained tnder the Mental Health Act left by 10% in the | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
past year, and suicide, particularly among men under the age of 45 has | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
seen its highest levels ever since 2001. I will give way. Does my | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
honourable friend share my concern about the scale often by colmon | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
agreement, and appropriate stress on the police as a consequence of the | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
pressure on emergency mental health services? My local police h`ve | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
advised me that in some casds they spend half a shift with sevdrely | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
mentally ill patients who are queueing for access to acutd mental | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
health hospitals. This is b`d for the police, but for the pathents and | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
a reflection of terrible prdssures on the acute mental health sector. I | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
thank my honourable friend for making that important contrhbution, | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
there are too many stories of our blue light services being under | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
incredible pressure, not just the police but under don't and Fire | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
Services have to content with these issues and it is something that | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
government, I believe, as do do more to address. I will give way. I am | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
very grateful to the honour`ble lady and I am very pleased that he has | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
called this debate. Does shd share my view that the report yesterday on | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
perinatal mental health makds incredibly disturbing reading, that | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
many women have lost their lives because of an absence of services | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
and that we must commit to dnsuring that every part of the country as | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
good quality services that can ensure people get through those | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
difficult times? I thank thd honourable member for his | :16:13. | :16:14. | |
intervention and I will comd onto the very serious issue that even | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
razors and I perinatal ment`l health, something that should | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
concern us all. I am very concerned that we have seen a psychiatry | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
recruitment crisis, there h`s been a 94% increase in vacant and tnfilled | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
consultant posts. The NHS contribution itself treats lental | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
health and physical health differently. The government claims | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
to be increasing mental health budgets, but patients and | :16:40. | :16:40. | |
professionals tell a differdnt story. That ever since ministers | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
discontinued the annual survey of investment in mental health three | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
years ago we do not have an accurate picture of spending on ment`l health | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
in our country. I will give way I thank my honourable friend forgiving | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
way, she makes an important point about transparency of spendhng. In | :16:59. | :17:06. | |
June last year I asked the then health Minister, when figurds would | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
be published in the Tory government were working with NHS England to | :17:11. | :17:13. | |
provide meaningful data. Last month the member opposite from Central | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
Suffolk and North Ipswich t`bled a written question asking when the | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
information would be made available and it is still not. Does she agree | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
with me that the government needs to come clean on the position? I thank | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
my honourable friend for making that important intervention, it hs one of | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
my key contributions to this debate, we have so much to do to shhne a | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
spotlight on what has happened to mental health funding across the | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
country. We are calling on the government stock Mac I will give | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
way. Of course she is right, this is a vitally important subject and the | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
government is working hard, though she join me in welcoming thd | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
government's product -- prolise of commitments to bring an acthon 00 | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
million to mental health services as set out in the Autumn Statelent | :17:57. | :17:59. | |
Part of my concern rests on the fact that over the course of the past | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
five years the cuts we have seen mean that we are only returning back | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
to the levels of spending on mental health that we had in 2010, I have | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
also asked the number of qudstions on how that ?600 million by present | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
itself, I am waiting for thd answers to see how the government whll | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
allocate their money and I will come onto some of the pledges thd | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
government have made. I will make some progress because I havd some | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
remarks to get through and H am conscious there are many melbers who | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
would like to contribute. There are three things that we are calling for | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
that we believe will make a difference. In reference to the many | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
contributions we have just heard, first and foremost we are asking the | :18:37. | :18:39. | |
government to restore transparency to address the murky picturd that we | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
have mental health funding. Secondly we asked ministers to address the | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
fundamental inequality that currently exists within our NHS | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
Constitution and finally asking the government to prioritise prdvention, | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
and implement a fully cross departmental plan to prevent mental | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
health problems from developing in the first place. I will givd way. On | :19:01. | :19:07. | |
the point of transparency, does she agree with me that transpardncy is | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
known to be a very effectivd leader for the government to improve | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
quality? And does she look on the steps that have been taken by this | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
government to increase transparency in the performance of mental health | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
services? I do not share thd honourable member's intervention, I | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
have a list of just ten things in the last week which I have `sked for | :19:27. | :19:28. | |
figures for the government `nd I have been told that they do not all | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
that information centrally, many statistics that were previotsly | :19:34. | :19:35. | |
available are no longer avahlable in the central progress we're laking is | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
to restore that transparencx, particularly on how much is being | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
spent on mental health. The government took that away in 20 2, | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
we know from many honourabld members on both sides of the house that we | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
want to know what those figtres are. I will give way. I am grateful to my | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
honourable friend who is making a powerful speech. The map of | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
prevention, is she as concerned as I am about the recent report from the | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
University of Liverpool which estimated that an additional 59 | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
suicides were associated with a government policy and capabhlity | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
assessment process between the use of 2010 and 2013? I thank mx | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
honourable friend for her intervention and I am fully aware of | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
that piece of research carrhed out by a number of academics from the | :20:20. | :20:21. | |
University of Liverpool, including one of my constituents, and I have | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
studied that research careftlly It highlights various areas of concern, | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
particularly about the government 's changes made, reforms made `bout the | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
Department for Work and Pensions that have had a negative impact that | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
I will come on in my remarks to the very point is that she reasons. Mr | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
Speaker nowhere is the gap between ministers rhetoric and realhty, the | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
gap between their rhetoric `nd reality more evident than when we | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
look at investment in our mdntal health services. Only last xear the | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
funding for mental health trusts was cut by 20% more than that for other | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
hospitals. And in 2011-2012, total investment in mental health dropped | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
for the first time in a dec`de. Perhaps unsurprisingly that same | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
year the government stopped publishing how much it invests in | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
mental health. Last year, I had to use freedom of information requests | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
to get to the bottom of how much clinical commissioning groups were | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
allocating to mental health. 67 of respondents spent less than 10% of | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
their budget on mental health, despite mental health accounting for | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
23% of the total burden of disease. This year the Minister for community | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
and social care promised to do something about it and he s`id he | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
would ensure that investment by clinical commissioning groups and -- | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
in mental health increases this financial year in line with the | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
increase in the overall budget. However, again, as the government | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
does not publish a central record of this data I have to use the Freedom | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
of Information Act to find out the answers for myself. Over thhs past | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
summer I found that more th`n one in three CCG 's are not meeting the | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
government's expectation. This is just one of many government pledges | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
on mental health that have not translated into reality. I will give | :22:08. | :22:15. | |
way. The honourable lady is making an important speech at the H | :22:16. | :22:18. | |
encourage her on this vital issue to be as bipartisan as she possibly | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
can, it is very good to see the Leader of the Opposition at the | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
Health Secretary both in thdir place, both of whom take a | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
long-standing approach to this issue and will she at least accept that | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
the all-party group led by the Right honourable gentleman for Norfolk | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
North very substantially assisted by Alistair Campbell, who has some | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
considerable expertise in this area, was a successful behind the scenes | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
in persuading the Chancellor to produce an extra ?600 million for | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
mental health. All of us will try to make sure this money is spent well | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
but let's try and keep this as an all-party bipartisan approach. I | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
thank the honourable member for his intervention and I know he has | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
worked very hard on these issues, as many members on both sides of the | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
house had done as well. My job is to hold the government to accotnt for | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
the promises they have made, that is what I am endeavouring to do here | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
today. Where there are opportunities for us to work together let's be | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
clear that we are very keen to make that happen but an pledges the habit | :23:19. | :23:21. | |
previously and have not delhvered, I would be keen to know the ddtail of | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
how that ?600 million will be allocated, over what period and on | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
exactly what. So we look forward to the detail coming forward from | :23:30. | :23:37. | |
government. The example that I gave about the spending of clinical | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
commissioning groups is one of the pledges on mental health th`t has | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
not translated into reality. Another one unfortunately around thd | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
commitment to spending ?250 million on child and adolescent met`l health | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
services this year. The responses to questions the government has | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
admitted that there will be a pledge on what they will spend this year. | :23:59. | :24:08. | |
We are concerned about the lack of transparency on health spending and | :24:09. | :24:17. | |
we are calling for eight reinstatement of transparency on | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
health services. Equality on mental health has still to be achidved A | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
huge disparity remains at the heart of our NHS. Patients, public and | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
staff are entitled and the pledges of the NHS is committed to | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
achieving. The NHS Constitution enshrines all of our rights to | :24:39. | :24:41. | |
access drugs and other treatments. It does not extend this right to | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
talking therapies. Recently the government consulted on addhng a | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
right to psychological ther`pies to the NHS Constitution but decided not | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
to include it in the latest version. This decision reinforces thd | :24:58. | :25:00. | |
existing bias in the system against mental health. If the government is | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
serious about fair access to mental health treatment must affect this | :25:06. | :25:14. | |
fundamental disparity. I am grateful to her for giving way. The Scottish | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
health terraces included in this motion which does not say mtch for | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
the new leader. In Wales thd only part of the UK we are the L`bour | :25:27. | :25:34. | |
Party are in charge, the Ac`demy which represents 16 colleges and | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
facilities represents significant inequalities. What the sheet say to | :25:40. | :25:48. | |
the Academy in Wales? I thank him for his intervention. In Scotland I | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
have heard from colleagues `bout the challenges they face and it is right | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
we should raise them today. In terms of Wales, I have met with colleagues | :25:57. | :26:02. | |
peers and seen the fantastic work they are doing. They have phoneering | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
mental health legislation which came into course in 2012 which is the | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
first of any country in the world in how it treats mental health and | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
insurers patients have a copper mental health dedicated plan which | :26:16. | :26:18. | |
looks at their health needs, their support and care and training. I | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
look forward to meeting my colleagues in Wales to support them | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
in their fantastic work. My honourable men friend made `t | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
important point about access to talking therapies. Isn't ond of the | :26:38. | :26:45. | |
issues that medication in some circumstances leads to people | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
becoming dependent for a long period of time. It is not just a mhnor | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
matter about whether it is hn the Constitution but it leads to an | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
appropriate intervention whhch can have a lifelong effect on pdople. I | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
thank him for his interventhon. Many of us in this House will he`r from | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
our own constituents about the experience which he shares has been | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
replicated across the country. We know by looking at the numbdr of | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
prescriptions allocated in lental health they have risen and then into | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
the millions in terms of people having to access drugs, somdtimes | :27:24. | :27:26. | |
because they cannot access talking therapies. I will give way. Does she | :27:27. | :27:37. | |
welcome the government commhtment to introducing - reducing waithng times | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
so people do not have too wdak a long time to get the talking | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
therapy? It is something thhs government introduced and the Labour | :27:47. | :27:54. | |
government did not. Under the Labour Party we created these servhces in | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
the first place. Services h`ve two exist which did not exist bdfore. | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
The chronic underfunding of mental health which existed 397, wd are | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
incredibly proud. As things develop the waiting time standards should | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
come forward. There were wahting time standards in place which | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
include physical health and mental health and I am proud of th`t and | :28:21. | :28:23. | |
disappointed that in too many cases at the moment we do not see the same | :28:24. | :28:29. | |
equality applied to mental health. If the government is serious about | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
fair access to cost effective mental health treatment there must be | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
needed added the addressed. We are calling today on the governlent to | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
commit to all patients whether they need a drug or psychological therapy | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
have those same rights. Endtring people have access to health. I will | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
make some progress as I am short of time. Insulating people havd access | :28:55. | :29:02. | |
to health help early on is hmportant to prevent people from becoling ill. | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
We have seen cuts in prevention early intervention and commtnity | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
services which are having a devastating impact. When thd number | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
of children with mental health problems turning up at accident and | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
emergency has doubled, when one prisoner is taking life in four days | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
and went a young person is self harming but will because thd are not | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
suicidal they do not meet the threshold for help. And when the | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
women with an eating disorddr is turned away from mental health | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
services because her BME is not low enough, people are not getthng the | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
right help soon enough and too often mental health problems are being | :29:45. | :29:47. | |
ignored and it is only when they reach crisis point they get | :29:48. | :29:55. | |
attention. I am hearing frol dental health professionals across the | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
country that the local servhces are being stripped out. Apart from the | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
devastating human costs imp`cting on a person's ability to hold down a | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
job, he a mortgage and maintain relationships with family and | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
friends, these problems will cost our NHS and local authoritids more | :30:17. | :30:19. | |
as they struggled to deal whth the consequences of serious ill,health | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
which could have prevented. The cost is not insignificant, recent studies | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
have put it at 105 billion pounds per year. How can the Secretary Of | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
State and this Tory governmdnt justify it? Ensuring people can | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
access support when they nedd it is an urgent priority. If we are to | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
ensure our services are sustainable into the future we must do so much | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
more to prevent able from bdcoming ill in the first place. I t`lked | :30:52. | :30:58. | |
about perinatal mental health. This affects up to 20% of women `t some | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
point during pregnancy or in the year after the birth of her baby. | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
These problems cost our economy ?8 billion per year. Isn't it `ppalling | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
that even if these women sedk help the are not always guarantedd to get | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
the specialist support they need. The number of mother and GP units | :31:18. | :31:23. | |
has dropped since 2010 at ?06 million being spent on perinatal | :31:24. | :31:31. | |
which was pledged this year was welcome but so far the government | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
have spent just 1/15 of what they had promised. Intervening e`rly in | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
perinatal health helps not just the mothers but also the childrdn. I | :31:42. | :31:51. | |
will give way. Thank you. I will take her back to the point `bout the | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
Ivy Atkin programme. That is an illustration of when both p`rties | :31:58. | :32:03. | |
have delivered successfully. The future of psychological therapies in | :32:04. | :32:10. | |
Britain is about if we enshrined it in the Constitution it might be a | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
good thing but we need to btild more capacity to deliver on standards. We | :32:15. | :32:21. | |
cannot just write it in the constitution, we need to increase | :32:22. | :32:28. | |
access. I thank him for his intervention, I do not think it is | :32:29. | :32:37. | |
either or, it is something we address in the constitution. Those | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
who have problems in working life often experience problems in | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
childhood or adolescence yet a small proportion of the budget is spent on | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
child or adolescent services. We need to focus attention on children | :32:54. | :32:56. | |
and young people and crucially on prevention. We need schools and | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
colleges that promote good lental health. We need to ensure all | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
children have access to high-quality social and emotional learning soapy | :33:09. | :33:14. | |
enquire the skills to express how they feel and have an understanding | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
of good mental health. We wdre concerned to deep the Ofsted report | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
on education which said mental health education is often olitted | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
from the curriculum due to ` lack of teacher training. We know the | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
government funded the assochation to publish guidance and lesson plans to | :33:34. | :33:38. | |
support teaching and mental health at how the government insulhn | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
schools are actually using ht? We need communities that promote good | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
health and well-being. Proposing, few poverty and neighbourhood | :33:50. | :33:51. | |
factors such as overcrowding, feeling unsafe and the lack of | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
access to community facilithes can have a harmful impact on mental | :33:57. | :34:03. | |
health. Those along with bullying, trauma, isolation are just some of | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
the leaders against good mental health that we must address. I thank | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
her for setting out such a strong case. Does she agree that local | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
government have had a negathve impact on community cohesion in | :34:22. | :34:24. | |
relation to mental health and the growth of loneliness and thhngs of | :34:25. | :34:31. | |
that sort? I thank him for his intervention which brings md neatly | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
onto the remarks I am just `bout to meet. I am enormously concerned | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
about the deep cuts we have seen by this government to our local | :34:40. | :34:41. | |
authorities over at the last five years. The ?200 million in xour cuts | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
to public health prevention and further cuts down the line. I am | :34:48. | :34:52. | |
very concerned about the impact those cuts will have and will | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
continue to have on our comlunities and the services which servd him. | :34:56. | :35:01. | |
Services such as our librarhes, drop-in centres, presenting centres, | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
we talked about loneliness. Supporting pavements and yotng | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
children, citizens advice you lose which support the pool so mtch early | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
on, they are the glue which support and keep our communities together. I | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
am very concerned about what is on tap happen over the course of the | :35:20. | :35:22. | |
next few years. Nielsen needy social care system which is implemdnted | :35:23. | :35:30. | |
with our mental health servhces We know that billions have been slashed | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
from social care budgets and the number of people receiving social | :35:36. | :35:38. | |
care support for mental health has fallen by a quarter since 2009 or | :35:39. | :35:46. | |
ten. I queued this time and again when I visit rental health trusts | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
that they have patients who cannot be moved out because social Kier is | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
not available for them to move on. He also need workplaces which | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
promote a good work and lifd balance. 70 million working days are | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
lost every single year in otr country due to stress, deprdssion | :36:06. | :36:11. | |
and other mental health conditions. It costs the UK employers 30 billion | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
per year through recruitment and absence. The NHS has to get its own | :36:18. | :36:26. | |
House in order. Across the health service staff tell me they `re so | :36:27. | :36:28. | |
concerned about their well-being and that of their colleagues, longer | :36:29. | :36:34. | |
hours, few resources, greatdr demands and an incredible alount of | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
goodwill creating an perfect storm within the NHS. Figures frol the NHS | :36:40. | :36:45. | |
staff survey show the proportion of staff reporting work-related stress | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
has increased to 38% in 2014. I will give way. In the spirit of | :36:52. | :37:01. | |
bipartisan ship as touched tpon by my friend from Sutton Coldfheld | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
Wiltshire except evidence bdtween good mental health and employment | :37:07. | :37:09. | |
and the number of jobs that have been created over the past five | :37:10. | :37:13. | |
years since I have no doubt that that has been very positive in terms | :37:14. | :37:20. | |
of promoting mental health? I am very interested to hear the | :37:21. | :37:23. | |
intervention from the Honourable member. I am about to talk `bout | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
employment support. I am concerned about the number of constittents who | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
come to me about the increase in precarious employment when they | :37:36. | :37:38. | |
cannot sustain themselves from week to week and plan financial budgets. | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
Or those who are unemployed orderlies their jobs becausd of | :37:44. | :37:45. | |
their condition and the hopd of getting back into work and this | :37:46. | :37:51. | |
government is unjustifiably slim. The latest statistics reveal less | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
than 9% of April with mental health conditions receiving employlent and | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
support allowance have an hdlped back into work by the work | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
programme. 83% of people surveyed why the charity Mind, noticd that | :38:05. | :38:13. | |
the work programme made thehr condition worse. How can it like | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
that programmes that are supposed to help people back into work can be | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
doing the opposite? The arts have long played an important role in | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
helping people with mental hllness, the is more work to do with the | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
Ministry of Justice, it'll health in our prisons, all front-line | :38:36. | :38:38. | |
professionals especially in the police and health services need | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
training to support to ment`l health. I come to our third and | :38:43. | :38:51. | |
final call. We must improve our response to mental health in | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
society. It was published in 20 1 and promised to be across strategy | :38:57. | :39:05. | |
for people of all ages. Progress has been limited. We need a new strategy | :39:06. | :39:13. | |
with teeth that will have coordinated across departments to | :39:14. | :39:15. | |
measure progress and evaluate success. We have eagerly aw`iting | :39:16. | :39:23. | |
NHS England's ask force. It is due to be released this autumn xet we | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
heard the other week that this has been delayed until next year, after | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
the NHS England planning guhdance will have already been issudd. What | :39:34. | :39:38. | |
impact does the government hoped this impact will have if thd | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
guidance for the NHS for thd coming year will not even take account of | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
it? In conclusion, mental hdalth matters. It matters in our schools, | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
workplaces and communities. It matters to our fulfilment and to the | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
economic success of our sochety There have been important strides | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
forward and we on this side of the House welcomed them but we `re also | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
concerned too much is at risk. We hear too often that our mental | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
health system is at crisis. We are concerned the right help and support | :40:16. | :40:18. | |
is not therefore people when they need it and not enough is bding done | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
to prevent people from having to turn to these services in the first | :40:23. | :40:30. | |
place. We are anxious that hn some place changes taking effect over | :40:31. | :40:32. | |
government departments are laking things worse for our nation's mental | :40:33. | :40:34. | |
health. I called Jeremy Hunt. I would like | :40:35. | :40:51. | |
to congratulate the Shadow Linister and the member for Liverpool on | :40:52. | :40:59. | |
securing this debate, she spoke very powerfully about the shortcomings | :41:00. | :41:01. | |
that we currently face in mdntal health provision and although she | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
was somewhat reluctant to rdcognise the very real progress that is now | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
being made, she deserves crddit for securing this, her first debate in | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
her new portfolio. President Obama recently talked of the need to bring | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
mental health out of the sh`dows. I would just like to start by taking a | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
few moments to congratulate the many honourable members on all shdes of | :41:30. | :41:32. | |
the house for their bravery in doing exactly that. I would like to | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
recognise the honourable melber for Broxburn who spoke powerfully of his | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
own obsessive-compulsive disorder on the impact it had on his falily life | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
and the low member for Barrow in Furness who talked about his own | :41:48. | :41:50. | |
treatment for depression, the honourable member for North Durham | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
's book are very briefly about his battle with depression. I wrote | :41:56. | :41:57. | |
honourable friend from Sutton Coldfield who was part of the new | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
cross-party campaign who opdned up about his own mental health | :42:03. | :42:05. | |
challenges during a very difficult period in his life, I would like to | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
thank the honourable member for Croydon Central for his Private | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
members bill is supported bx the government, that we feel is the laws | :42:14. | :42:16. | |
preventing people with ment`l health conditions in members of Parliament, | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
juror 's or company directors. I would like to thank the honour will | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
members for Eastleigh in Ashfield for the leadership of the all-party | :42:27. | :42:29. | |
group on them without effective right honourable member for Norfolk | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
North, nobody has done more in this house to campaign for mental health | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
and I would like to recognise the bravery of his son, Archie, whose | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
book about his own mental hdalth challenges. Anyone who saw their | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
joint interview on ITV news would have been extremely moved bx what | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
they saw. I would also like to recognise somebody who is not a | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
member of this house and not usually praise from the side of the house | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
and that is Alistair Campbell, Husaberg powerful advocate for | :43:00. | :43:02. | |
mental health and his bravery and openness is a reminder to us all | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
that depression affects people in all walks of life. All of these | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
honourable members have sent a strong message to the public that | :43:13. | :43:18. | |
when it comes to mental health conditions you are not alond. One in | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
four adults experience ment`l health problems every year. It affdcts | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
everyone, including a relathve representatives. I speaking out | :43:30. | :43:36. | |
they also sent a message to other parliamentarians who may be | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
suffering in silence becausd despite the incredible privilege of working | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
in this place, public life can be incredibly stressful and can destroy | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
not just people's hoax but `lso marriages, relationships and | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
families and being an MP dods not make you immune to the pressures | :43:54. | :43:57. | |
that affect everyone -- people's hopes. But as a port of the | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
wonderful campaigning organhsations like mine, rethink and the | :44:03. | :44:05. | |
Samaritans, this kind of cotrage has made a real difference. I think we | :44:06. | :44:12. | |
have seen over the last couple of years, huge determination on all | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
sides of the house to improvement of health provision. And one rdason for | :44:17. | :44:22. | |
that is because in the last decade, a huge amount has improved hn our | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
understanding of mental health as a society. We should celebratd the | :44:29. | :44:31. | |
fact that we no much more than we ever did before about the workings | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
of the brain, but because is, treatment and prevention of mental | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
ill-health and about links other societal issues like debt, | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
unemployment and family bre`kdown. The result of that developmdnt is | :44:46. | :44:52. | |
that between 70 and 90% of those treated for serious mental hllness | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
see a reduction in their sylptoms and improved quality of lifd, even | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
higher percentages if it is caught early, the best example of this is | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
early intervention for psychosis which can see a reduction in suicide | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
risk from 15% to just 1%. Wd should also recognise the progress made on | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
depression. The world health organisation ascribes depression as | :45:17. | :45:23. | |
more disabling than angina, arthritis, asthma or diabetds. But | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
we know it can be treated as successfully as any of thosd, | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
including in the British medical Journal 's's research published | :45:34. | :45:35. | |
today which mention the fact that talking therapies can be as | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
effective as drugs for moderate and severe depression. Over on | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
programmes of talking therapists have a 50% recovery rate | :45:45. | :45:51. | |
post-treatment. I give way. I appreciate the way he is addressing | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
the subject and we are all on a journey on this. He will relember | :45:58. | :46:00. | |
that last October we published a document that painted a vishon until | :46:01. | :46:07. | |
2020 of achieving genuine epuality, not rhetoric, but genuine epuality | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
and settled that was introdtcing conference of waiting time | :46:12. | :46:14. | |
standards, so there is a colplete equilibrium. The same right to | :46:15. | :46:18. | |
access treatment on a timelx basis whether you have a physical or | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
mental health problem, does he remain committed to that crhtical | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
principle? I am committed to that principle. We have discussed this | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
many times. Access to treatlent is vital, so too is the qualitx of | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
treatment you get when you start that process of treatment and we | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
have to make sure that we kdep a close eye on both. I do think it was | :46:39. | :46:46. | |
the right thing to do to ask Paul Farmer of Mind of the best way to | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
make progress towards paritx during this new parliament and I whll wait | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
and see what his recommendations are before we decide the way th`t we | :46:58. | :47:00. | |
implement the vision that hd was such an important part of | :47:01. | :47:12. | |
developing. We all know that policy by one department can cost pressures | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
on another area and early today that the Secretary of State for Justice | :47:17. | :47:18. | |
are announcing they will reduce prison sentences and have more | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
people serve their sentences in the community. I wouldn't necessarily | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
disagree with that but have been discussions will be discusshons with | :47:28. | :47:30. | |
the Department of health about what pressure that then puts on community | :47:31. | :47:36. | |
mental health services? People who are offenders often have mental | :47:37. | :47:39. | |
health or addiction issues behind a criminal behaviour, so I re`lly want | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
to make sure and implore thd Secretary of State to look `t how | :47:44. | :47:46. | |
this policy in one department will have a knock-on effect on pressure | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
on an already pressurised sdrvice with mental health. She makds a very | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
important point and I can rdassure her that there are very good and | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
ongoing discussions with thd of justice and I think the isste of the | :48:00. | :48:02. | |
mental health of the prison population is another area where we | :48:03. | :48:08. | |
failed to do as much as we need to do, there are so many obviots things | :48:09. | :48:10. | |
we could do with huge benefht, not just to the individuals concerned | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
but the rest of society in terms of reducing reoffending rates `nd we | :48:16. | :48:18. | |
are committed to making real tangible progress in doing that Set | :48:19. | :48:25. | |
against these improvements hn the potential of mental health treatment | :48:26. | :48:28. | |
that I have been talking about are some troubling societal changes | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
which increase the demand and need for mental health support. Globally, | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
there has been an 80% incre`se in those living alone since thd | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
turn-of-the-century. In the UK it is now rising to almost a third of all | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
households where people are living alone. For children and young | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
people, it isn't just about exam pressure, insecurities around body | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
image but also the risks around social media. The office for | :49:02. | :49:04. | |
National statistics found a clear association between more tile spent | :49:05. | :49:09. | |
on social networking sites `nd child mental health problems with children | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
that spend more than three hours a day on social media twice as likely | :49:15. | :49:15. | |
to suffer poor mental health. The Secretary of State is t`lking | :49:16. | :49:25. | |
about the pressures on children and one in five children are in need of | :49:26. | :49:28. | |
treatment and are being turned away including from A and therd is a | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
real crisis in the service provision and it is lacking ?200 millhon, it | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
is being reduced from the mdntal health budget, given his reflection | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
on how big a challenge this is, doesn't he think that his | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
government's response is colpletely inadequate, despite the good efforts | :49:47. | :49:49. | |
being made, it is not good dnough and he has to step up and ilprove | :49:50. | :49:53. | |
the situation, particularly around young people. I do accept that we | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
need to improve the provision of mental health services for children | :50:00. | :50:02. | |
but I don't accept her characterisation, she will know that | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
in the final budget before the last election, the previous coalhtion | :50:10. | :50:12. | |
government committed ?1.25 billion over this Parliament to improve | :50:13. | :50:19. | |
child mental health provision and prenatal mental health support and | :50:20. | :50:22. | |
that has been honoured by the government and we are in thd process | :50:23. | :50:25. | |
of working out how to rule that out and it is something that my right | :50:26. | :50:28. | |
honourable friend or not th`t the show is a lot of time thinkhng | :50:29. | :50:32. | |
about. That might for North East Bedfordshire. | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
Before we discuss the precise things that need to happen and I think this | :50:38. | :50:42. | |
should be done in a bipartisan spirit, I think we should rdcognise | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
as a house that really important progress has been made in rdcent | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
years. I want to start with some of the achievements made by thd | :50:52. | :50:54. | |
previous Labour government, who increased funding for the NHS and | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
indeed for mental health services within that. Who oversaw a | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
significant expansion of thd mental health workforce, whose big | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
improvements in patient card with 70% of mental health patients being | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
seen in private rooms and increased the use of new drugs and thdrapies, | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
including psychotherapy. Those were important steps forward. Under the | :51:22. | :51:28. | |
coalition government, in thd last Parliament, we have seen a record | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
investment of ?11.7 billion in mental health services at a time of | :51:33. | :51:36. | |
huge pressure on public fin`nces. We have seen the passing of thd parity | :51:37. | :51:43. | |
of esteem clause in the 2012 act which is something that we on the | :51:44. | :51:45. | |
side of the house are incredibly proud of, we have seen the first | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
access targets being set for talking therapies, for psychosis and we are | :51:52. | :51:58. | |
starting to end the distorthon that the right honourable gentlelan for | :51:59. | :52:01. | |
Norfolk North talked about, which had seen the targets for phxsical | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
health access sucking resources away from April health provision at a | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
local level over a sustained period of time. -- mental health provision. | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
We have seen particular progress in two areas and I think it is | :52:15. | :52:17. | |
important to mention and provide encouragement that when we do decide | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
to focus on improving specific areas of mental health provision, we can | :52:23. | :52:25. | |
make real progress. The first of those is talking therapies, NHS is | :52:26. | :52:34. | |
now recognised as a world ldader. The number of people getting help | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
from cocking therapies quadrupled from 182,000 starting treatlent in | :52:41. | :52:47. | |
2009-2010 to 800,000 starting treatment last year. The total | :52:48. | :52:51. | |
number of people helped in the last Parliament was 3 million, compared | :52:52. | :53:00. | |
to just 226 thousand. -- talking therapies. We want the access | :53:01. | :53:09. | |
targets to be 15% of those needing it. That model is now being looked | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
at very closely by Scandinavian countries and a pilot based on what | :53:16. | :53:21. | |
we have done here is now st`rting in Stockholm and we can be verx proud | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
of that important progress. Another area is dementia, where over the | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
last Parliament we saw a 50$ increase in dementia diagnosis | :53:32. | :53:38. | |
rates, up from 41% to the start of the parliament to 67% at thd end of | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
the parliament, the highest dementia diagnosis rate in the world. 1. | :53:43. | :53:49. | |
million dementia friends and 12 dementia friendly communitids and we | :53:50. | :53:52. | |
are seeing doubling in fundhng for dementia research within yotr | :53:53. | :53:54. | |
mission to find a cure for the disease modifying therapy bx 20 5. | :53:55. | :54:02. | |
In the spending growing the Prime Minister announced funding for a new | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
dementia research institute which I think will be an important step | :54:08. | :54:13. | |
forward. I will give way. Thank you for giving way. He talks about the | :54:14. | :54:18. | |
amount of money that has bedn put into dementia research for ` very | :54:19. | :54:20. | |
good reasons but isn't therd a strong argument as well that we need | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
to build a research base around mental health and the evidence base | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
around mental health so we need re-search into investment in dental | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
health so that we can see more about that. I think he is right and I want | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
to commend him for his work on the all-party group. The truth hs that | :54:41. | :54:46. | |
we are still in very early days when it comes to proper understanding of | :54:47. | :54:58. | |
mental illness. The top ten health the search universities havd five of | :54:59. | :55:07. | |
them in the UK. Let me talk about the problems we need to address and | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
we need to address rapidly. The first problem. Let me give way and | :55:12. | :55:20. | |
then I will make some progrdss. I am grateful to the Secretary Of State. | :55:21. | :55:24. | |
In addition to my point to ly honourable friend about the | :55:25. | :55:30. | |
additional 590 suicides associated with the work capability assessment, | :55:31. | :55:34. | |
the Royal College of psychi`trists has also raised concerns about the | :55:35. | :55:43. | |
cut to the ESE group many of whom have mental health disorders. You're | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
talking about exacerbating the mental health issue, self h`rming or | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
taking their own lives. In the light of that will he look to meet with | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
his Secretary of State for Work and Pensions? We do have very close | :56:00. | :56:05. | |
working with the Department for Work and Pensions but I would just urge | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
caution on the issue of suicide rates. The BMA said themselves no | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
conclusions could drawn abott cause and effect and we should relember | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
the many studies which talk about the approved health and well-being | :56:20. | :56:22. | |
when it comes from being in work and the tremendous progress, 2 lillion | :56:23. | :56:28. | |
additional jobs created over the last month. I will give way first | :56:29. | :56:35. | |
and then make progress. Can I knowledge the progress that has been | :56:36. | :56:38. | |
made over this period but what really winds people up outshde this | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
lease is the rhetoric reality that when the politicians on all sides | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
making grand statements abott access to treatment and then the rdality | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
and the deal world is different it damages politics. The dark two | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
options. One is using littld will anti-ground level to prioritise this | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
land close the gap in terms of priority esteem. Omission is on the | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
ground do not have adequate resources and to make impossible | :57:08. | :57:12. | |
choices because adequate resources are not available. Before hd has an | :57:13. | :57:19. | |
opportunity to answer the intervention, long interventions are | :57:20. | :57:22. | |
not appropriate on A.D. When the ruddy great many people wishing to | :57:23. | :57:31. | |
speak. If you wish to make ` speech you have too make a speech. If he | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
listens to what I have been seeing, I have been very honest abott the | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
problems and the gap about what we want to deliver and what we are | :57:43. | :57:45. | |
delivering and I want to make solutions. It is important for his | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
side of the House to recognhse we have had a very real issue with | :57:50. | :57:56. | |
focus on mental health over the last year with progress has been made and | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
we should recognise that gives sides hope that if we continue to broaden | :58:02. | :58:04. | |
that focus out he will make on breast in other areas as well. I | :58:05. | :58:13. | |
want to talk very openly about we are more progress needs to be made. | :58:14. | :58:21. | |
The first thing is that we have far too much variation in the qtality of | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
services across the country as to free services are good and ready are | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
not satisfactory. I think it is wrong as the person who is | :58:33. | :58:35. | |
responsible for the health service that I cannot tell you in shmple | :58:36. | :58:41. | |
terms the relative quality of rental health provision in North Shropshire | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
versus South Shropshire or side and sister versus Sheffield. We need to | :58:47. | :58:51. | |
do that because we know frol other areas of the health service that | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
once you are transparent about variations in here people mdasure | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
themselves against their pedrs and you get a great deal of improvement. | :59:02. | :59:08. | |
I thank him for the content and tone of the speech and further to the | :59:09. | :59:12. | |
last intervention does he agree with me that what really irritatds our | :59:13. | :59:16. | |
constituents, certainly a g`p tween reality and rhetoric is to be | :59:17. | :59:23. | |
regretted but what really bothers our constituents is the makhng of | :59:24. | :59:28. | |
August party political points on this subject and I go peopld insure | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
his tone and content is reflected by his apartment and I wish hil every | :59:34. | :59:36. | |
success in working with the honourable lady who clearly has | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
deeply about this matter to make sure there is an all-party `pproach | :59:42. | :59:47. | |
to this. Of course he is absolutely right and I think we do a great | :59:48. | :59:52. | |
disservice to the many people suffering mental health conditions | :59:53. | :59:55. | |
if we do allow this to becole a partisan issue. Of course | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
governments must be held to account for their promises but what we must | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
never do is try to suggest one House here is more about this than the | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
other or that all the effort is on one side of the House have been | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
somehow compromised in a lack of interest or commitment to the issue. | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
It is clear from the number of people speaking in this deb`te today | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
and on all sides of the House that the determination to improvd mental | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
health provision is shared right across the House. I want to make | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
further progress. We have other things we need to address urgently | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
such as the increase in eathng disorders like anorexia which is the | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
killer. Tween five and 20% of anorexia surfaces tragicallx do die. | :00:42. | :00:56. | |
-- between 5% and 20%. Referrals were up 11% last year to Kalms | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
services and we need to makd sure they can deal with that and look at | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
what we can do to prevent e`rly intervention so we can reduce the | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
growth in those referrals. We also need to look at the use of police | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
cells which has been talked about. We have seen a 75% reduction but | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
they were still used for thousand times last year and in the case of | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
children it is totally inappropriate and often totally inapproprhate in | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
the case of adults as well. We need to look at the use of out of area | :01:37. | :01:44. | |
placements for people and mx right honourable friend for Bedford is | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
committed to turn this around by next March. I had some other | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
interventions. The honourable gentleman at the back. I th`nk him | :01:53. | :01:59. | |
for giving way. My point is cross-party support to tackle things | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
like suicide. In the assistdd dying debate the was support for tackling | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
anyone who suggested the wish to commit suicide, why, then, hs the | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
minister refusing to acknowledge the impact on benefit cuts as rdferred | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
to by the member? Secretary Of State? The BM - British medhcal | :02:25. | :02:34. | |
journey says you should not draw conclusions about cause and effect. | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
The suicide rates which unddr the last Labour government and previous | :02:40. | :02:50. | |
Labour government were under... I think we should be bold and ask | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
whether we should have a zero suicide ambition. Ian is no country | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
in the world that has delivdred that and it will require a big rdthink in | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
how we deliver services. We should think about that and all thd factors | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
which may contribute to people being in a highly distressed statd, not | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
being able to get the support they want. I want to move on and make | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
some progress if I may. I h`ve not taken interventions. Let me take on | :03:20. | :03:28. | |
intervention and I will movd on I appreciate you getting way. What | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
assessment as he made around the changes to employment support | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
allowance? Particularly the work-related activity group in | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
relation to those suffering ill mental health? We are working very | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to improve the mental | :03:47. | :03:48. | |
health provision for people looking for work, but just people who are | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
finding it difficult to find work because of stigma and bias `mong | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
employers are also people who are in work and may fall out of thd health | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
forced because of mental he`lth condition but I want to movd on To | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
talk about what we're actually doing. We cannot do everythhng in | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
this area of health provision as in other areas of health provision but | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
that does not mean we should not make tangible and immeasurable | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
progress on the visions we share on all sides of the House. On funding | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
for the Chancellor delivered a record settlement for the NHS in the | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
recent spending review, confirming a ?10 billion real terms incrdase in | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
funding for the NHS over thhs Harland, that is very significant | :04:38. | :04:45. | |
for mental health. -- over this Parliament. They are committed to | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
increasing the proportion of funding that goes into mental health. I am | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
going to make progress. That means we have the progress - macro pro | :04:56. | :05:09. | |
Specht of real progress. We do not have a monopoly of wisdom in this | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
easier which is why we set tp the independent mental health t`sk force | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
led by Paul Farmer, the chidf executive of Mind. We will get you | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
in the New Year and this follows the successful report produced why the | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
cancer task force and I think it is a good way to unite both thd | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
government, all sides of thhs House and the mental health campahgning | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
charities as to the G areas we want to transform over the coming years. | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
We are still working through detailed planning but even before | :05:43. | :05:51. | |
that planning has been completed we have, as a government, and `nnounced | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
two Ilion pounds of additional health funding over the course of | :05:56. | :06:04. | |
this Parliament. Some of those were promises made by the previots | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
Coalition Government, dumb of which we have said we will honour and | :06:10. | :06:12. | |
others are new promises we have made. As we increase investlent in | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
mental health we need better transparency showing us how that | :06:20. | :06:28. | |
money is spent and that is why, I am pleased to see macro, following | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
consultation with the Kings fund, for the first time since June we | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
will have independently shotld Ofsted style ratings which will tell | :06:36. | :06:42. | |
as very simply whether the lental health provision across the whole | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
health economy is outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate. | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
To my knowledge we are the first country in the world to do that and | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
based on the experience of doing the same thing for the hospital sector | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
in the wake of mid-Staffs, that will be to eat reduction in vari`tion and | :07:01. | :07:12. | |
improvement in care. Part of that transparency also means devdloping a | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
new mental health data set where we are able to collect more data, | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
better data, share it with this House, it debate that data `nd learn | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
what needs to be learned. Again this is something, let me give w`y to a | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
final intervention and make my point. I recognise the thoughtful | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
Casey is making that things are not good at but are getting better. The | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
stories from my area do not match what we're hearing from dispatch | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
box. Here is the story in the Greater Manchester evening News | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
right now about cuts which does not seem to match the case being made | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
today. You make commitments and choices that the government in terms | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
of where we want resources to go and then we have a duty to make sure | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
those are followed up at a local level. As with all governments as we | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
now with the health service locally that advice and direction is | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
followed sometimes and sometimes is not. What I was seeing macro about | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
copper independent ratings `rea IEF is the will be able to expose the | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
areas on mental health the commitment. This is something that | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
has been mentioned on all shdes of the House it is a false economy not | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
to invest what we need on mdntal health. | :08:32. | :08:45. | |
Finally, I just want to movd on can I make some progress, as it is the | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
Shadow minister, I will makd this my final... Can he just clarifx the | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
commitment he just made, dodsn't extend to ensure we have a clear | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
picture of the spend in every area of mental health? I believe we will | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
be able to do that, I will write to her to clarify exactly what we think | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
we are able to do, I'm commhtted to making sure this has has information | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
about the quality of provishon across the service and investment is | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
a factor in the terminator hf the quality of provision can medt the | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
high standard we wanted to be. The other party wants to conclude was a | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
point that she made, quite rightly about the importance of cross | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
government work. We have set up an innovative joint unit with the | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
Department of work and penshons and we have set up a series of pilots to | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
help people with mental health conditions get back to work. We | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
urgently need to do more to reduce the stigma amongst employers, we | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
have seen in one survey of dmployers think they would avoid hiring | :09:55. | :09:56. | |
somebody with a mental health problem and we also want to help | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
people at risk of leaving work because of a mental health problem. | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
We are also working very closely with the Department for education | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
where we have a pilot progr`mme to create a single point of contact for | :10:10. | :10:11. | |
schools who have concerns about their pupils who have mental health | :10:12. | :10:20. | |
challenges and that is now covering 27 CCG 's and 22 areas. We `lso need | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
something every going to tackle this that the government and this house | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
alone cannot deliver. That hs further progress across sochety in | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
reducing stigma. Bill Clinton said that until illness is nothing to be | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
ashamed of but stigma and bhas shame us all. I want to finish by paying | :10:42. | :10:48. | |
tribute to the timed change movement founded by Mind and Rethink and the | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
dementia friends movement ldd by the Alzheimer's Society and pay tribute | :10:55. | :10:56. | |
to the honourable members on all sides of the house and have | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
participated in these campahgns and reassure them that they havd the | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
full support of the governmdnt as we try to change attitudes on this | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
vital mission. Somebody oncd said that the greatest of crueltx is our | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
casual mindedness to the despair of others, let us resolve to do that | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
when it comes to mental health, no one can ever say that about this | :11:19. | :11:19. | |
house. May I congratulate the Shadow | :11:20. | :11:30. | |
Minister for bringing such `n important debate. It is a privilege | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
to be speaking in this debate today on mental health, I must firstly | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
declare a professional interest having worked as a Parenti `nd | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
clinical psychologist over ` period of 20 years in the NHS, specialising | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
in mental health and at a consultant level for ten of those years, I | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
continue to maintain my skills and engagement in line with my | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
professional registration requirements, earlier in thd year I | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
was privileged to contributd to the evidence given in the select | :12:04. | :12:11. | |
committee. There wish to cover three areas in this debate today. Adult | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
mental health services strategy child and adolescent servicds and | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
mental health services for veterans. Mental health is an extremely wide | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
field from major mental illness such as psychosis, depression and anxiety | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
disorders to trauma, eating and adjustment disorders. Developmental | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
disorders are also sometimes included within the sphere of mental | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
health such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and H would | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
welcome future debates in these areas as I fear that we do not have | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
time to do these very important area is just as today. It is reported by | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
the British psychological Society that one in four people in the UK | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
will experience a diagnosable mental health problem with mental health | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
accounting for up to 23% of all ill health in the UK and being the | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
largest single cause of dis`bility. In Scotland, figures are currently | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
one in three. Mental disorddrs are strongly related to risk of suicide | :13:19. | :13:26. | |
and it should be known that high levels of substances ardour and | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
physical ill-health are prevalent. I would like to start by stathng that | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
mental health services right across the UK are not the finished article | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
wherever you go. We are continually striving towards improvement and | :13:39. | :13:41. | |
this should always be guided by patient need and by research | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
underpinning most effective clinical practice. In terms of funding of | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
mental health services, when I started practising in the 1890s in | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
Scotland, these very severely lagged behind other areas of NHS ftnding, | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
this resulted in far too few practitioners on what seemed to be | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
never-ending waiting lists for both patients and for clinicians to | :14:08. | :14:10. | |
manage. At the start of my career at this time, patients routinely waited | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
to see psychologists and mental health specialties for 6-12 months | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
and in some areas for over ` year. This was clearly ineffectual, often | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
meaning that problems were exacerbated over time and that | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
mainly a medical model pershsted. This is not what patients w`nt, nor | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
did it fit with best practice, evidence indicates that pathent | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
recovery is improved with access to talking therapies alongside medical | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
management. This is evidencd clearly within national in situ for clinical | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
excellence guidelines. We h`ve seen targets adopted in Scotland and | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
across the UK in 2014, meanhng that patients should be seen frol | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
referral to assessment and 08 weeks. In Scotland in 2014, 81.6% of | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
patients received an 18 weeks and a number of people seem in 2004 was | :15:09. | :15:15. | |
27% higher than the same qu`rter the previous year. Demand is increasing, | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
which is actually a good thhng, it means that we are starting to tackle | :15:21. | :15:28. | |
stigma and that access is ilproving. Matched step care involving | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
psychological therapies and practitioners at differing levels | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
and depending upon clinical effectiveness or therapy type for | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
differing disorders was ruldd out with an all boards with an NHS | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
Scotland and NHS education for Scotland took a primary rold in | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
capacity modelling and training Use of self-guided help has also been | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
developed and technological advances are important in terms of access for | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
patients in this modern world and in relation to early prevention. | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
Suicide rates have been brotght down and the target met of trainhng high | :16:05. | :16:06. | |
levels of front line staff hn suicide prevention and risk | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
identification, quality ambhtions have also been developed as | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
benchmarks unleashing two Pdrson centred safe and effective care | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
However I fear there will continue to be a dramatically increasing | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
demand upon mental health sdrvices. Evidence suggests that recession | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
increases mental health problems, including depression, suicidal | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
behaviours and substance abtse. Unemployed individuals, particularly | :16:38. | :16:39. | |
the long-term unemployed, h`ve a higher risk of poor mental health, | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
compared with those in employment. Stress is now the most common cause | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
of long-term sick leave in the UK and the more debt and indivhdual | :16:50. | :16:52. | |
has, the more likely they are to suffer mental problem. A social and | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
policy climate of austerity affecting the most vulnerable to a | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
greater degree, I would argte, is a likely aggravate of mental | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
ill-health. I welcome pledgds from both the Westminster and Scottish | :17:09. | :17:11. | |
government to increase spending significantly upon mental hdalth. | :17:12. | :17:18. | |
100 million pounds in Scotl`nd, mental health services have not | :17:19. | :17:21. | |
achieved parity with physic`l health services for decades since H started | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
in the field. We need to be clear, much more is needed to fill the gap. | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
I would commend ministers and MPs to go out to mental health services and | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
spend quality time with clinicians on the front line. Manageri`lly | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
produced statistics often include a multitude of issues and it hs only | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
with this front line insight that the true patient journey and daily | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
clinical barriers can be iddntified. These are often excessive p`per | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
Mark, repeated reviews and servers changes that diminish morald. - | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
service changes. I come to lental health issues in childhood. Mental | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
health problems within childhood is an extremely serious problel and can | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
destroy educational potenti`l at West and impeded when probldms are | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
less severe. Difficulties mtst be assessed and recognised at `n early | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
stage. Targets for services were set at 18 weeks as of December 20 1 . | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
NHS Scotland data suggests ` significant reduction from 0200 | :18:33. | :18:41. | |
weights of over 26 weeks in 200 . 76.6% of patients were seen in 8 | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
weeks in the quarter ending June 2015 and the average weight was nine | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
weeks. There has been a 35% increase in demand in the past 99 ye`rs to | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
work completed on stigma and improving access and 60 million has | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
been invested in the workforce in Scotland since 2009 and is `t its | :19:06. | :19:13. | |
highest ever level. 50 millhon further has been pledged to these | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
services in Scotland to further improve waiting game -- 15 lillion. | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
Widespread staff training h`s been undertaken and modalities stch as | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
cognitive behaviour therapy, family therapy, interpersonal ther`py and | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
specialist interventions such as for eating disorders, with the focus on | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
seeing patients as close as to home as possible. More progress hs | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
required across the UK and hn Scotland to meet our 90% target I | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
must say that inpatient tre`tment for Child and adolescents should be | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
a very last resort. It takes children away from family and that | :19:53. | :19:55. | |
apologises their difficultids. Best children should the scene at home | :19:56. | :20:06. | |
and treated within the natural environment, therefore maxilising | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
key family and peer support. Children who need inpatient | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
services, suffer psychosis, intractable eating disorders, severe | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
obsessive-compulsive disorddr and a variety of neurological conditions | :20:25. | :20:26. | |
and neurodevelopmental disorders. There are currently 48 beds | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
available in Scotland and ?8 million has been pledged to build a unit for | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
child and Assen lessons with mental health problems in Dundee -, child | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
and adolescents. My own cynhcal experience suggests a lack of | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
available beds in forensics child and adolescent mental health | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
services and in learning disability child and adolescent health services | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
and constituents who have contacted me suggested further work h`s to be | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
done in terms of improving `ccess to specialist eating disorders | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
inpatient care, and with thd private sector. -- out with. Increases of | :21:08. | :21:15. | |
children presenting with self harm and receiving brief overnight | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
admission have been high. What I would say, I would say clinhcally | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
this is a difficult decision. Often clinicians are faced with the issue | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
of sending Assen lessons for a brief period of stay -- adolescents. It | :21:34. | :21:40. | |
makes it difficult for carers and parents to visit them or to admit | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
them briefly overnight. Surdly the maximum or optimum level of | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
treatment would be to see and assess and make sure their children are | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
safe and able to go home with the strongest possible package of care | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
as quickly as possible. I'm extremely grateful that she is | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
willing to take an intervention I am greatly value in her contribution | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
as somebody with huge expertise I get the feeling there is a lot of | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
medical expertise to come from behind the paper that she m`y be | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
setting a lot of her speech from. I wonder if she could just explain to | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
us whether she thinks the points made in the hoped-for amendlent were | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
valuable and whether in the absence of that she still supports the | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
motion as it stands and how she would urge honourable members to | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
vote today? I don't support the motion in its reflection to the | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
Scottish government care, as I said, children who have mental he`lth | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
difficulties, clinicians have two make a very sensitive judgmdnt | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
regarding the length of potdntial stakes, whether or not the problems | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
are intractable and issued be seen and admitted to a specialist unit, | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
which can often be some milds from their own home, or in many of the | :23:06. | :23:12. | |
cases we are seeing, it is self harm attempts which require psychiatric | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
assessment monitoring overnhght care and monitoring and home intdnsive | :23:17. | :23:25. | |
care to try to reduce anothdr incidence. I hope that answdrs your | :23:26. | :23:27. | |
question. Recommendations, however, I do feel | :23:28. | :23:35. | |
have to be made in relation to campus services. These incltde a | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
wider appreciation of children's mental health, beyond health itself, | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
providing education and awareness in schools, and having access | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
potentially to mental health clinicians in skill settings, and | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
not just clinics. Just like diet and exercise, so should good mental | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
health be normalised. These are all fundamental living skills that | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
impact upon all aspects of functioning, and deserve a lore | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
health and well-being slant, rather than a pathology dosing labdl. I | :24:13. | :24:20. | |
thank the honourable lady for giving way. Would she agree with md that to | :24:21. | :24:30. | |
have these services in schools is actually invaluable, and normalises | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
the feelings of low self-esteem that many of these young children or | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
young people are experiencing, and actually to have counsellors based | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
in the school is very important for the mental health of these xoung | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
children? Many thanks, and thank you for that intervention. Yes, I think | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
access to mental health within schools, mental health awardness and | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
training, and particularly training for staff in schools, so thdy can | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
pick up at a very early stage if someone is experiencing a mdntal | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
health problem, and then trhed to access services at that verx early | :25:11. | :25:13. | |
stage is something that is definitely merited. So spechalist | :25:14. | :25:20. | |
training for teachers would be a positive step forward, I thhnk, so | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
that they recognise the signs of mental distress in children. I think | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
we also need to modernise otr approaches to mental health for | :25:31. | :25:33. | |
children in adolescence, embrace IT and social media as methods of | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
communicating, because that is the modern world that is often where | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
they communicate from. Therd is a project currently in Scotland called | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
safe spot, which is an applhcation website and school intervention to | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
promote positive coping skills, safety planning and accessed | :25:53. | :25:54. | |
information about mental he`lth services for very young people. The | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
project is going very well `nd the app is freely available on hTunes | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
and android stores. The safd spot website will be used within the | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
greater Glasgow and Clyde hdalth board, and also Dundee health board | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
are also looking at access to this app. It was designed by a clinician, | :26:16. | :26:24. | |
Doctor Fiona Mishal, and I commend her for her innovative work in that | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
regard. There remains a lack of in Pera called data regarding dffective | :26:32. | :26:33. | |
interventions for young people with what I would call mental he`lth | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
coupled with learning disabhlity or substance use. That's certahnly | :26:40. | :26:46. | |
requires to be built upon, looked after and accommodated children are | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
also some of the most severdly disadvantaged, in terms of services | :26:53. | :27:01. | |
and magnitude of difficultids, particularly those who have violence | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
needs or self harm needs. For specialist groups and underpinning | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
research will be crucial. Ghven that the weight of evidence for child and | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
adolescence mental health sdrvices is in favour of psychologic`l rather | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
than pharmacological intervdntions, for the majority of mental health | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
interventions, clear structtres should be in place to support the | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
delivery of psychological therapies for children's and adolescence. | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
Those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds have always tended to | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
have a poorer uptake of the child and adolescent mental health | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
services and I think an assdrtive outreach approach may be beneficial, | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
and required, so that some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged | :27:51. | :27:52. | |
children and families do not slip through the net. Specialist service | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
delivery in areas of developmental disorder, such as autism, children | :28:00. | :28:02. | |
in the criminal justice system and children with poor mobility, | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
required to be thought throtgh and plan so that these children and | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
their families are able to `ccess services, without feeling that they | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
are passed pillar to post. Ht is extremely difficult for famhlies in | :28:16. | :28:18. | |
particular to access early diagnosis of developmental disorder, such as | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
autistic spectrum disorder, which means their needs can go unlet, and | :28:25. | :28:26. | |
their attainment may therefore diminish. In terms of mental health | :28:27. | :28:33. | |
for veterans, just prior to closing, I continue to believe that this is | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
an area that is underfunded across the UK, and that those who have been | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
willing to lay down their lhves for their country should have consequent | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
health, including mental he`lth needs, fire retires to. I would like | :28:46. | :29:00. | |
to have a further statement with regards to what will be dond, | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
particularly as we are in a new conflict, and the number of those in | :29:06. | :29:08. | |
armed services who witnessed or experienced trauma will increase. | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
What I would play to the hotse as a clinician and mental health | :29:13. | :29:16. | |
dash-macro in mental health is that to me mental health services are | :29:17. | :29:23. | |
beyond party politics. It is crucial that we tackle it meaningfully, in a | :29:24. | :29:29. | |
cross-party manner, that brhngs about real continued progress on the | :29:30. | :29:36. | |
ground, for service users and staff, and that we should share best | :29:37. | :29:39. | |
practice across the UK and what works philosophy. I welcome the | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
announcement there will be hmproved access to data. That is crucial in | :29:46. | :29:51. | |
terms of taking forward and ensuring best practice. I think what I would | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
like to say in concluding is that I sense a real note of colleghate | :29:57. | :30:02. | |
nests across the house and ` will to take this very important issue | :30:03. | :30:08. | |
forward. I look forward to fully partaking in that, and my p`rty | :30:09. | :30:11. | |
certainly wishes to see mental health services continue to improve | :30:12. | :30:13. | |
in Scotland, the UK and beyond. Doctor Liam Fox. Thank you, Madam | :30:14. | :30:23. | |
Deputy Speaker. 1 of the waxs in which we can measure ourselves, in | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
terms of house of lies to a society we are is how well we deal with our | :30:28. | :30:31. | |
most vulnerable citizens, and there are few groups more vulnerable than | :30:32. | :30:34. | |
those who suffer from mental illness. And yet from when H began | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
working in the health service as a doctor back in the early 1980s right | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
through my time as a member of Parliament, mental health sdrvices | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
have been the Cinderella subject in the National Health Service. Let's | :30:50. | :30:53. | |
be very frank, we would nevdr act set the level of care in cardiac | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
disease, orthopaedic diseasd or cancer for our constituents that we | :30:59. | :31:01. | |
are forced to accept, in terms of the treatment for mental illness. | :31:02. | :31:07. | |
There can be few areas wherd our role as members of parliament in | :31:08. | :31:10. | |
advocacy is more important than the issue of mental health, bec`use | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
these are very often the people who are least able and least willing to | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
stand up for themselves in the debate about how the NHS cake is | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
going to be divided out. And we have a role also in dealing with what the | :31:25. | :31:28. | |
Secretary of State and the honourable lady on the front bench | :31:29. | :31:30. | |
for the opposition talked about as the last taboo. We do have to make | :31:31. | :31:46. | |
societal changes, and I would also like to give thanks to thosd who | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
have used the painful personal experiences to give colour to our | :31:51. | :31:53. | |
debate and to take this forward In all the years I have been at the | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
House of Commons, I cannot remember and attendance as high as that today | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
on a mental health debate. H think that is indicative of how f`r we | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
have come. I very much welcome the government's changes, the attitudes | :32:07. | :32:11. | |
that have been fostered in recent years, not least I have to say | :32:12. | :32:14. | |
during the Coalition Governlent figure was one of the great | :32:15. | :32:17. | |
achievements of that Coalithon Government that it put ment`l health | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
budget further up the agend`, and I am particularly pleased of the | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
announcement the Secretary of State had made about transparency on CCG | :32:27. | :32:33. | |
outcomes. That is the cruci`l element. However many rights we give | :32:34. | :32:42. | |
patients, it is the capacitx constraints that will ultim`tely | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
determine what those outcomds are. I want to deal with just two or three | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
of those. The government's dye up the programme is a great programme, | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
and getting great -- getting greater access to talking therapies is | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
extremely important. But I was asked to do a short piece for the Victoria | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
Derbyshire programme on the BBC and we looked at the difference between | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
the best and the worst. In terms of provision of talking theraphes. And | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
it is quite unacceptable in a National Health Service that is | :33:17. | :33:19. | |
funded from a simple -- single service of taxation that in some | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
parts of the country 100% of patients are able to be seen within | :33:23. | :33:25. | |
the government's target timd, and at the other end, only 6% in E`st | :33:26. | :33:33. | |
Cheshire. You can accept solething of a discrepancy between thd best in | :33:34. | :33:36. | |
the worst but you cannot accept that level of discrepancy in a hdalth | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
service that is supposedly founded on an equal basis across our whole | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
country. What was interesting, and the honourable lady who opened the | :33:46. | :33:47. | |
debate and others have made the point, then we have that access to | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
talking therapies, experience suggests that doctors are ldss | :33:53. | :33:56. | |
likely to prescribe medicathon, including antidepressants, `s a | :33:57. | :34:02. | |
consequence. And that is an extremely positive developmdnt, | :34:03. | :34:06. | |
because one of the things that has worried me about the lack of | :34:07. | :34:09. | |
capacity in mental health sdrvices is what I would describe as the | :34:10. | :34:13. | |
medicalisation of unhappiness, where medical profession simply don't have | :34:14. | :34:16. | |
the time the doctor patients about the causes of their symptoms, and | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
they deal with the symptoms themselves, and that is not, in the | :34:21. | :34:24. | |
end, good medical practice. The second area that I am concerned | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
about is that of childhood `nd adolescent medical services. | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
Government after government of both political persuasions have told us | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
that it is going to be improving. I have seen very little sign of it | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
improving, and it matters for this reason: around 70% of adult mental | :34:45. | :34:47. | |
health problems will have presented by the age of 17. You would have | :34:48. | :34:52. | |
thought, knowing that knowlddge we would prioritise our health care | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
early on to try to minimise the damage that would be caused by | :34:56. | :35:01. | |
untreated illness and yet wd are not, still, fulfilling our Judy on | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
that front. But the biggest problem we face is that of impatient | :35:08. | :35:16. | |
capacity. -- in patient. During the closure of the Victorian Society is, | :35:17. | :35:19. | |
I worked in one of those old hospitals that was genuinelx a | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
Dickensian nightmare. There was a great fashion, supported Red Cross | :35:26. | :35:28. | |
this house, the move towards care in the community, but the consdquence | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
of not having adequate capacity in the community meant that a lot of | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
patients simply fell through the net. The point has already been made | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
about the large mental illndss population in our criminal justice | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
population. What we did was to close down one type of inappropri`te | :35:46. | :35:48. | |
institution and end up with patients in aid event type of inappropriate | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
institution and call it progress, and a De Ceglie not good enough and | :35:54. | :35:56. | |
we need to do very much mord to prevent patients who are mentally | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
ill ending up being incarcerated in our criminal justice system when | :36:01. | :36:03. | |
they should be being treated appropriately for their illness And | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
when we see patients being put in police cells because there hs | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
inadequate capacity of in p`tient care, how would we feel if women | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
with breast cancer or diabetic patients were being put in police | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
cells because we could not find beds for them. It would be on thd front | :36:21. | :36:25. | |
page of every newspaper, and leading every news bulletin in our country. | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
I would love to see that money being made available by the Treastry ring | :36:31. | :36:36. | |
fenced in our CCGs. If we do not get ring fencing of that money ht will | :36:37. | :36:39. | |
go elsewhere, for the very reasons I have already set out. And wd need to | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
ensure that that money that is now quite rightly being sent out for | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
mental health treatments actually ends up there, and not being | :36:49. | :36:51. | |
siphoned off into areas where the voice is stronger for that | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
particular spending. I would also love to see us skip more support to | :36:57. | :36:59. | |
the wonderful mental health charities out there, Marjorhe | :37:00. | :37:06. | |
Wallace, Sane and Mind, all of them are hugely important. I want to ask | :37:07. | :37:09. | |
the secretary of state in closing the little one thing, the incipient | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
crisis in suicide amongst mdn in the United Kingdom, a subject that isn't | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
hugely talked about, and thd culture of our society often makes ht very | :37:19. | :37:21. | |
difficult for men to admit that they are unable to deal with the stresses | :37:22. | :37:24. | |
of life, with anxiety and depression. The statistics relating | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
to the worst manifestation of that, suicide, are deeply worrying. | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
British men are three times as likely to die by suicide as British | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
women. Suicide remains the lost common cause of death in men under | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
the age of 35, and over a qtarter of the 24 to 34-year-old males who die | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
take their own lives, compared to 13% amongst women. That is ` huge, | :37:51. | :37:54. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, national scandal, and we need to givd | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
priority to it. And success or failure in dealing with mental | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
illness in our country in the 2 st century, in the world's fifth | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
richest country, is not just a judgment on the government or the | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
NHS, but our society as a whole and our basic humanity. Ben Bradshaw. I | :38:13. | :38:19. | |
am sorry to have to rise not for the first time in this house in the last | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
few years to say that in sphte of all the warm reassurances from the | :38:25. | :38:27. | |
government's side that our lental health services are getting better, | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
the experience of my constituents, both as users of the servicd, or | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
people who work in the servhce and who manage the service, is | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
completely different. It is extremely welcome that ment`l health | :38:41. | :38:43. | |
has risen up the political `genda in recent years and I pay tribtte to | :38:44. | :38:46. | |
the many people outside this house and inside it to buy speaking of | :38:47. | :38:49. | |
their own experience have hdlped achieve that. But the higher public | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
profile has not yet translated into delivery on the ground. In ly own | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
area, the public are still experiencing service is being cut. | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
They are still having to waht an acceptably long times for t`lking | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
therapy and other treatment. And in spite of the repeated warnings and | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
assurances we have received in previous years about the sc`ndal of | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
people being sent out of thd area, we saw a 23% increase in thd number | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
of patients sent out of the area in the last year, more than 500, and in | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
Devon, one of the worst performing parts of the country, 45 patients | :39:25. | :39:28. | |
were forced miles away from their friends and family. | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
I've recently experienced this in my own family. When the bright and | :39:35. | :39:42. | |
previously happy teenage datghter of a friend had a crisis. How great is | :39:43. | :39:49. | |
rapidly escalated and she ndeded to be admitted. There were no suitable | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
beds at all in London, wherd she and her family live. She was first sent | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
to Southampton, only for thd unit there to be deemed unsuitable and | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
she was then sent to Manchester Thank you for giving way. Does my | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
honourable friend agree that in my area some children and adoldscents | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
are waiting up to two years for outpatient talking therapies? That | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
is appalling and completely unacceptable. Does he also `gree | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
that early intervention is very important in order to hope that | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
these people don't suffer too much in later life? My honourabld friend | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
is absolutely right and as she clearly articulates, the picture on | :40:35. | :40:36. | |
the ground is quite different to the one so often painted by the | :40:37. | :40:44. | |
government. I raised the case in another debate of a 16-year,old girl | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
in Devon who was kept in a police cell for two nights because there | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
was no bed found for her anxwhere in the country. She is not unusual As | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
we've already heard in todax's debate, more than X thousand people | :40:57. | :41:02. | |
with mental illnesses were held in police cells last year. I ghve way. | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
Would the member access that the issue is a national commisshons | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
issue and it is bound for NHS England and not by the CCGs? Many of | :41:15. | :41:25. | |
our young people who have e`ting disorders get to that stage. My | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
honourable friend is absolutely right and I hope she heard ly | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
intervention because I belidve that out of my speech. I was going to | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
raise the ongoing problem of the transition between services for | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
young people and adults and a lot of people are falling through the gap. | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
We've had a lot of talk including from the Government about p`rity of | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
esteem but there is scant evidence of this happening on the ground at | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
local level. I would like to ask the Minister if when he responds he | :41:59. | :42:02. | |
could explain why if the government is serious about parity of dsteem, | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
white the government has reloved parity of esteem from this xear s | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
NHS mandate, which basicallx tells local health services what they have | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
to deliver. Why has that bedn removed? Why too is the govdrnment | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
cutting so drastically publhc health, which delivers so m`ny of | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
the presenters if -- preventative services like alcohol and drugs | :42:29. | :42:31. | |
treatment and psychological support for young people in schools that | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
prevent people getting ill hn the first place, saving money and lives? | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
We've also heard from previous speakers, after years of falling, | :42:41. | :42:44. | |
male suicide is now on the hncrease again and reside among young males | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
is the main cause of avoidable death for young males. I give way. I thank | :42:49. | :42:56. | |
my honourable friend forgivhng way. Would my honourable friend like to | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
attend a meeting of the all,party suicide prevention group and the | :43:01. | :43:06. | |
all-party mental health grotp? Doctor Robert Colgate is coling to | :43:07. | :43:13. | |
address triage, so that people, social workers, GPs, who have a | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
patient who they cannot get an appointment for immediately can be | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
triaged and appropriate plans put in place while they wait for the next | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
stage of treatment? It is on the 29th of January. I'm sure honourable | :43:28. | :43:34. | |
members will be very grateftl for that invitation despite the pressure | :43:35. | :43:37. | |
on their diaries from numerous party groups in this house. Yesterday we | :43:38. | :43:46. | |
were told that the vast majority of Acute Hospital trusts are expecting | :43:47. | :43:50. | |
to run deficits this year, ` big increase on last year, the figure | :43:51. | :43:53. | |
for mental health trusts is much lower. You might think that was a | :43:54. | :43:56. | |
good thing until you realisd that the reason acute trusts are running | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
such a deficits is because they are giving priority to ensuring safe | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
care. If far fewer mental hdalth trusts are running deficits, Madam | :44:07. | :44:09. | |
Deputy Speaker, is this bec`use they are simply cutting services rest at | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
I would be grateful if the Linister can give his view on that dhfference | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
between the level of deficits run by mental health trusts and general | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
Acute Hospital trusts. Madal Deputy Speaker, I shall be brief and close | :44:25. | :44:26. | |
now because there are many people who want to speak in this ddbate. I | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
think there are not many of us whose family has not been affected by | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
mental illness. People have been hearing warm words from the | :44:38. | :44:40. | |
government now for several xears about how things will, or indeed | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
today we have heard are improving. That is not the Syrians are people | :44:46. | :44:48. | |
on the ground. I hope when the Minister responds he will focus on | :44:49. | :44:51. | |
the action and the delivery and not just the words. The house whll be | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
aware that a great many people wish to speak, so I will now havd to | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
impose a time limit of five minutes. Robin Walker. Thank you Mad`m Deputy | :45:02. | :45:08. | |
Speaker, it is a pleasure to follow the Right Honourable gentlelan. I | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
want to raise some concerns of my constituents. I welcome the extra | :45:13. | :45:15. | |
funding of ?2 billion that the government has put in to addressing | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
mental health and the fact that we have put parity of esteem into law. | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
I thought my right honourable friend for North Somerset made a vdry | :45:26. | :45:28. | |
important case about patient capacity and one aspect frol was | :45:29. | :45:31. | |
this year that I would welcome is some of the improvements we have | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
seen in the ward in the hospital in that respect, but it is cle`r there | :45:38. | :45:40. | |
is a need for more investment in that respect. It is also essential | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
that we take on the remaining aspect of stigma around mental health and I | :45:46. | :45:52. | |
echo the support of those who have spoken out on this issue. The | :45:53. | :46:02. | |
Gloucestershire hospital trtst, I commend their collective effort in | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
this regard. I want to commdnd the passion with which my young | :46:07. | :46:14. | |
constituent Darian Murray h`s given on this issue. Does my honotrable | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
friend agree that young people are more able to treat about thd issue | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
of mental health than the older generations? I do agree with my | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
honourable friend and I thank her for her intervention. I think it is | :46:30. | :46:32. | |
impressive how young people have spoken out about these issuds and I | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
think in many areas they ard showing us the way in terms of taking on | :46:37. | :46:44. | |
this stigma. I take an the good work done in Worcestershire on this. | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
Attitudes towards mental he`lth have changed for the better in rdcent | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
years and I hope that in thd years to come we can see further progress. | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
I welcome the fact that my honourable friend. And on, the | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
Minister for disabilities, `s held a jobs fair to help people with | :47:03. | :47:10. | |
disabilities find work and ht is something I will be looking to do as | :47:11. | :47:23. | |
well. I have some concerns `bout was the sheer, we have a series of three | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
centres which provide therapy to support people who might otherwise | :47:28. | :47:30. | |
have difficulty in getting back into work. One of these is... Yet another | :47:31. | :47:40. | |
in my honourable friend for Redditch's constituency at Orchard | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
Place. Earlier this year thd trust launched a consultation on the | :47:45. | :47:47. | |
future of the services, sayhng their budget was being reduced by a third | :47:48. | :47:50. | |
and implying they were reducing from three centres to two. Many contacted | :47:51. | :47:59. | |
me with strong support of these services and gave examples of how | :48:00. | :48:02. | |
these services have helped them turn their lives around. It becale | :48:03. | :48:05. | |
apparent that the trust thelselves running these centres what not | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
necessarily the best use of resource. I know my honourable | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
friend for West was that shd has been working with our fun stpporters | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
of the very ability to this at Link Nurseries to see if this cotld be | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
taken over as a social enterprise and continue to offer its sdrvices | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
beyond the trust itself and this is something I would support. H am | :48:30. | :48:34. | |
pleased to see in an update from the trust today that this is under | :48:35. | :48:37. | |
active consideration but it is a matter of great concern that the | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
initial consultation suggested a move from three centres to two. The | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
latest thinking from the trtst appears to be along the linds of | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
closing three centres and rdplacing them with one as a hub. We `ll | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
recognise the benefit of more outreach. I have to question the | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
benefits of consultation whhch seems to be cutting back on an important | :49:02. | :49:09. | |
service. I urge ministers to look into this matter and see if there is | :49:10. | :49:12. | |
anything they can do to encourage the commissioners to have another | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
look. In addition to my concerns about vocational centres, there is | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
one aspect of mental health provision in Worcestershire which | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
causes me concern, which is the port for A -- support. At the end of | :49:24. | :49:34. | |
that pilot, both trusts askdd for it to continue and calls for pdople to | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
be given access to support `vailable 24 hours a day, full crisis point | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
and emergency access to mental health care, it is welcome but since | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
that the number of people n`tionally going through mental health crises | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
held in police cells has halved but in South was to sheer commissioners | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
decided that the 24-hour cover would be withdrawn and replaced bx a | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
specialist nurse during the daytime and access to telephone support | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
overnight. I know the Minister has replied carefully to me on ` written | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
question in this regard. I thank my honourable friend for giving way. | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
Does he agree with me that ht's incredible important for hospitals | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
to have comprehensive psychhatric liaison so that when people go into | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
A there is a specialist to help them get the right help? I | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
wholeheartedly agree. The ilportance of specialist care in these | :50:34. | :50:36. | |
situations is absolutely vital. I would ask the minister following his | :50:37. | :50:41. | |
reply to my question in Julx to consider whether the statemdnt he | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
made that the government's landate to NHS England suggest that the | :50:46. | :50:55. | |
response must be as quality as other health centres means that hd has the | :50:56. | :51:03. | |
quality to mandate through practitioners rather than tdlephone | :51:04. | :51:12. | |
support. I would urge ministers to draw their act attention to the case | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
of a constituent who as a rdsult of the absence of this support early in | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
2014 went through an acute dpisode having left A without recdiving | :51:23. | :51:30. | |
the care that she needed. Any savings made from the commission to | :51:31. | :51:38. | |
give overnight cover would be a case of being penny wise and pound | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
foolish. Sometimes not investing in mental health can be a falsd | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
economy. Overall however I welcome the additional investment going on | :51:47. | :51:49. | |
and the investment I have sden my own constituency of Worcestdr. | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
Thank you for calling me in. I'm very pleased to be able to follow | :51:55. | :52:00. | |
the honourable member forward stuff. I'm very grateful that this debate | :52:01. | :52:03. | |
is taking place, it's an issue that is deeply close to my heart. It s | :52:04. | :52:08. | |
vital that we ensure everyone has access to the best services when it | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
comes to mental health. As the Secretary of State pointed out, one | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
in four of us over the next year will face some form of ment`l | :52:17. | :52:21. | |
illness. Figures from the mdntal health charity Mind suggest that 75% | :52:22. | :52:24. | |
of those with anxiety or depression yet know treatment at all. Ht's | :52:25. | :52:31. | |
vital that we start taking lental health more seriously starthng with | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
adequate funding and giving mental health the parity it deservds with | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
physical health. I wholeheartedly support a protected NHS budget. The | :52:43. | :52:45. | |
most effective treatment of NHS treatment however is being `t a | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
local level in communities. A protected budget means little when | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
funding to mental health services at a local level is being slashed. | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
Those in need reach first to their local services, but the scale of the | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
cuts we are seeing particul`rly at local councils is having a direct | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
and detrimental effect on sdrvices that are crucial to helping many | :53:10. | :53:12. | |
deal with their mental health problems. The Royal Joss | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
psychiatrists state that a key part of mental health services is good | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
public health funding, yet currently only 1% public health spendhng is | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
focused mental health. This will only be further compounded by the | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
fact that the money for public health given to councils will fall | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
by 3.9% year on year, which will be 18% by the end of this Parlhament. | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
If we are committed to ensuring parity of esteem between mental and | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
physical health then this is simply not good enough. My honourable | :53:48. | :53:56. | |
friend might be aware that the suicide prevention group did a | :53:57. | :53:59. | |
survey of local authorities to see how many had suicide prevention will | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
plans and suicide action groups in place. A large proportion dhd not | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
have any action plan or any groups working on suicide prevention. Isn't | :54:11. | :54:13. | |
that something that the govdrnment must address if we are to move | :54:14. | :54:20. | |
forward? I think that's a rdally important intervention, acttally, | :54:21. | :54:23. | |
and something I have been aware of and something that governments | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
should impress on local are`s to ensure it does take place and | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
suicide is something that I want to come onto now in actual fact. I have | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
to pay tribute to the right on a member for North Somerset who is now | :54:36. | :54:42. | |
in his place, who made an excellent speech not least talking about | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
suicide. It is important in Rochdale, we have seen suichde rates | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
continue to remain above thd national average in our town, at | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
11.8 per 100,000 per year which compares to 8.9 for England as a | :54:56. | :55:08. | |
whole. The male suicide ratd is 18.6 per 100,000, which also dwarfs the | :55:09. | :55:16. | |
14.1 for England as a whole. In 2010 it was 14.7 in Rochdale and 14. in | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
England. Put simply, more pdople are killing themselves in Rochd`le. And | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
in Rochdale, our council like many others up and down the country are | :55:28. | :55:34. | |
faced with cuts to its budgdt. The result in Rochdale has been that it | :55:35. | :55:37. | |
is considering removing funding to the sum of just ?20,000 for the | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
award-winning Growth Project. This project works to support those with | :55:44. | :55:50. | |
mental health issues at a ntmber of allotments, providing a safd haven. | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
It promotes good mental and physical health throughout the activhty, | :55:57. | :56:05. | |
where participants can quitd literally see the fruits of their | :56:06. | :56:12. | |
labour. To date, the project has had 88 beneficiaries. This projdct | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
embodies the essence of of `nd physical health. Although this | :56:17. | :56:23. | |
project is a voluntary organisation, fighting mental health issuds must | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
not be seen as an act of ch`rity. It is about justice and necesshty. Let | :56:29. | :56:39. | |
me finish by saying if we are truly to achieve parity, it is ex`ctly | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
like projects like Growth Project that need funding and not bding cut | :56:47. | :56:54. | |
to the pressure on council budgets. Thank you for calling you so early | :56:55. | :56:57. | |
on in this very important ddbate. It is a pleasure to be able to follow | :56:58. | :57:01. | |
the honourable member for Rochdale and his thoughtful speech. The issue | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
of mental health such an important and one which cannot and should not | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
be swept under the carpet any longer. I would like to pay the | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
tequila tribute to the Right Honourable member for North Norfolk | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
for his work over the last parliament. He has definitely left a | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
legacy. The issue of mental health and how people talk about it is in a | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
way how we spoke about cancdr if you years ago. People didn't talk about | :57:30. | :57:32. | |
cancer because people hoped it would go away. In a similar way, people | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
haven't been talking about lental health, hoping it would go `way but | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
it hasn't done. Mental health sadly is not going away and the sooner | :57:42. | :57:48. | |
that is recognised, the better. By putting mental health on a level | :57:49. | :57:50. | |
playing field with physical health, people are now talking about it The | :57:51. | :57:59. | |
issue of mental health has been recognised by an important group of | :58:00. | :58:04. | |
young people. For the loss of years, girl guiding has carried out a girl | :58:05. | :58:08. | |
's attitude survey, which c`mpuses the opinion of over 1500 girls and | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
young women between the ages of seven and 21. As year-on-ye`r | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
surveys can be compared, it is interesting to note that five years | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
ago the area of most concern to those survey that was alcohol and | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
drug abuse. In the 2015 survey published early October, for today's | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
cohort of young girls and women that has now changed to mental hdalth. I | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
would like to stress that those surveys were not restricted just to | :58:36. | :58:39. | |
girl guides but to a wide atdience across the whole of the country and | :58:40. | :58:48. | |
all young ladies and girls. It needs to be taken seriously. What was | :58:49. | :58:55. | |
concerning, the survey showdd there was a mismatch between what concerns | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
the young people and what p`rents think concerns young people. The | :59:02. | :59:04. | |
girls taking the survey thotght that their parents and what they saw as | :59:05. | :59:13. | |
traditional risks, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and young | :59:14. | :59:16. | |
pregnancy, whereas their concerns were mental health and cyber | :59:17. | :59:20. | |
bullying. Further information coming out of that survey in the -, | :59:21. | :59:29. | |
indicated that fewer than h`lf of young girls survey to talk `bout | :59:30. | :59:32. | |
mental health at school, despite them saying this is where they would | :59:33. | :59:36. | |
most like to get information about mental health. In my short time as | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
member of Parliament I have had a number of cases relating to young | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
people, and this problem is not going away. Talking to at mx local | :59:46. | :59:49. | |
schools, they have also highlighted the problem of mental health | :59:50. | :59:54. | |
starting at a very young agd. This is why in the New Year I am planning | :59:55. | :00:00. | |
to convene a roundtable meeting with headteachers, the police, CCG, | :00:01. | :00:01. | |
charities and other interested parties. I want to find out what | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
more can be done locally and what more should be done to prevdnt | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
mental health issues arriving and also any grassroots solutions to the | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
existing problems. As consthtuency MPs, we have our role to pl`y. | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
People turn to us for help on a daily basis, often as a last resort. | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
The issues vary. With some dasier to resolve than others, but thdy can | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
all cause a great deal of stress and pressure which in turn mount up and | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
can be for want of a better phrase the straw that breaks the c`mel s | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
back. We may not have all of the answers all be able to secure the | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
right outcome for every constituent but we are often the only pdople | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
fighting their corner, and we should do everything in our power to avoid | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
the situation deteriorate into such an extent that it could havd a | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
significant impact on consthtuents's mental health. I would like to pay | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
tribute to all of our casework staff who go above and beyond for local | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
residents on our behalf, often with little recognition for their | :01:07. | :01:18. | |
efforts. It is crossing so lany boundaries, education, | :01:19. | :01:20. | |
employability, family life, the list goes on. Today's debate yet again | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
has served to keep mental hdalth high on the political agend`, but | :01:27. | :01:33. | |
words must continue to take action, and I commend the government on work | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
they are doing to ensure th`t we do have that action. Can I just say | :01:37. | :01:44. | |
that I welcome today's debate. We are doing a very simple think are | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
talking about mental health in this chamber. But the Secretary of State | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
and my honourable friend sahd change in attitude and things are changing, | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
I would agree, totally, things are changing for the better, not just in | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
this place, but also in the media, in society. Sadly in my own party | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
there are some parts that still need to go a little bit further hn | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
understanding mental health. But we are making great strides, and they | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
should be recognised. That hs down to the great work that has been done | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
by rethink and time to change and other charities, who have to say are | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
not individuals working for those organisations but the thous`nds of | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
volunteers behind them. It hs only to give him the due credit that he | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
deserves for his place of actually talking about mental health. I thank | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
you for that, my civil thing was that we need to talk more about it | :02:45. | :02:47. | |
because that will change attitudes. The next thing we need to do is | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
hard-wire mental health and well-being into public policy and | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
Society. People might say why is that important? It is important | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
because it is the right thing to do, but also because even in thdse times | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
of austerity it makes econolic common sense. It saves not only | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
lives but also saves money `s well. What we need is a system whdre every | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
single government policy, doesn t matter what department it is in is | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
road-tested against mental health and mental well-being. The Secretary | :03:26. | :03:27. | |
of State accused my honourable friend of being political mdss. I am | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
sorry, the government cannot escape some of the things it is dohng in | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
terms of mental health. It hs our job to not only question thd | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
statements they make, but actually look at the facts. The Chancellor | :03:41. | :03:48. | |
quite rightly and very welcome early announced ?600 million monex for | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
talking therapies but that hs against nearly an eight and a half | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
percent cut in the last Parliament. That will do nothing to replace the | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
beds that will be lost insecure psychiatric wards, where we have | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
people, I know the honourable member from North Norfolk has raisdd this, | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
to remove ridiculous lengths around the country to get access to those | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
beds. What is the real causd of that? A shortage of beds? Yds, but | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
one of the root causes in London is the shortage of available housing. | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
Housing policy is having eight direct result on that. The back to | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
work interviews and the work capability tests have already been | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
mentioned. I have raised thhs on numerous occasions, but I al sorry, | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
they are not listening, the DWP people are still being put through | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
this torturous process which is neither good for the taxpaydr or | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
these individuals. We have `n announcement in the budget of 5 % | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
cuts in the local government, I would because I have very lhmited | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
time, in the local government budget, that will have a direct | :04:57. | :05:06. | |
effect. We have at the moment, on that basis, County Durham whll lose | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
?20 million a year. All of those policies that have been takdn, that | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
people will say not only have an impact on mental health but on the | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
services we deliver, we need to hot-wire mental health and | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
well-being into those areas, whether it be in schools, society, `nd the | :05:25. | :05:32. | |
criminal justice system. In terms of the issues facing people with mental | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
illness, I know personally some very dark places but one of the lost | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
tragic and darkest places are those people that commit suicide. In those | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
individuals, it is not just the life cut short, the opportunity hs | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
missed, in terms of the fulfilment they could give not only in society | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
but their families, but thehr families are left bereft, and in a | :05:53. | :06:01. | |
very emotional state. In thhs country, there are three tiles more | :06:02. | :06:04. | |
people committing suicide all year than there are killed on thd roads. | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
We had a great campaign and pressured in terms of road safety | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
and other issues which addrdss that. We need the same campaigning zeal to | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
attack the suicide rates in this country as we did for the road | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
campaigns. Unfortunately for my own region, the north-east, has a very | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
unenviable record, we are the highest region in the country with | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
13.8% per 100,000 individual is taking their own lives. People | :06:34. | :06:41. | |
contracting gloss over it as much as they like but economic situ`tions | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
affect people's lives, in tdrms of the way things are. We also have to | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
address that some tips on those figures are actually men. It is a | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
root cause that we are terrhble as individual men of talking about | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
mental health. So yes, progress is being made, Madam Deputy Spdaker, | :07:00. | :07:06. | |
but we do need to, as I say, have mental health and mental well-being | :07:07. | :07:08. | |
running through all governmdnt policies before they are put | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
forward. So I welcome today, as I said, because it is another | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
opportunity to raise mental health on the floor of the house, `nd talk | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
about mental health, which has got to be a good thing, but I h`ve to | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
say now is the time to change those words into action. We have less than | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
an hour for backbench contrhbutions in this debate so I will have to | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
reduce the time limit to three minutes. Which makes life a little | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
difficult for Mr Julian stood in. Apologies. If I may, I will focus my | :07:40. | :07:48. | |
brief contribution on the issue of mental health services in York and | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
my constituency. The ministdr is aware that with Park hospit`l, a | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
mental health care facility in York, closed on 30th September thhs year, | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
and the sick UC declared thd 18th-century grade one building | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
unfit for purpose. The fact they stated patients were at significant | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
harm at the hospital, the f`cility had been part of the Leeds `nd York | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
NHS Trust and concerns had been raised since 2013 when the sea QC | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
inspection declared that thd hospital did not meet the rdquired | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
safety standards. While the improvements were made, at ` cost of | :08:27. | :08:34. | |
1.7 million, the sea QC vishted again and expressed continudd | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
concerns about the safety on some of the wards. As a consequence, | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
significant improvements were called in January and money was made | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
available. However when the inspectors returned nine months | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
later in September, none had been delivered. No one denies thdre are | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
problems with the facility due to its structure and age, and H visited | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
the hospital and saw for myself the problems raised by the seat you see, | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
but the trust had nine months to rectify those well-known and | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
documented problems yet did absolutely nothing, which ldd to | :09:12. | :09:14. | |
this important facility being closed, with staff and patidnts just | :09:15. | :09:22. | |
given five days's notice, something that is unprecedented, and which | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
caused an immense amount of stress and anxiety for patients and | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
families and the hard-working staff. Things were further complic`ted when | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
the Vale of York CCG chose to transfer your's health servhces from | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
Leeds to this was due to allegations that a | :09:40. | :09:50. | |
disproportionate amount of funding was being allocated to Leeds and | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
York, missing out, and basically leaving York missing out. W`s this | :09:55. | :10:01. | |
due to leads being prioritised over your? Leeds and the York NHS Trust | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
has many questions to answer and I would like to know who will be | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
bringing them to account ovdr the situation that never should have | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
arisen? There were enough opportunities to solve this | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
opposition is back with this problem. The trust had enough | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
warning, despite these requhred actions that were not taken. Madam | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
Deputy Speaker, in closing `t this very brief time, ultimately I just | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
want to say that the long-tdrm, in the long-term we very much hope see | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
a new purpose-built facilitx in York and from my meeting with thd | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
ministers I know he feels the same way and I am confident he c`n | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
deliver that but I want to hear that from him today and also we have to | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
deliver parity of esteem across-the-board but I don't believe | :10:48. | :10:49. | |
that York are getting that `t the moment. Norman Lamb. Thank xou Madam | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
Deputy Speaker. I wanted to say right at the outset that I strongly | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
support this motion, and I `ctually hope that the whole house c`n unite | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
behind it, because I think ht is incredibly potent, although there | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
may be aspects of the motion people may disagree with, it is William | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
Port and that we send out a united message that we are all agrded on | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
the imperative of achieving equality for mental health. It seems to me it | :11:16. | :11:22. | |
is self evident that we still have a long way to go and that we should be | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
impatient for change. The sdntiment in the motion were actually at the | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
heart of the cross-party calpaign that I launched, together whth | :11:32. | :11:33. | |
Alister Campbell, and the Rhght Honourable member for Sutton | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
Coldfield, and together we got over 200 leaders from across sochety to | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
come together to make the c`se, the United case, for equality for mental | :11:45. | :11:46. | |
health and for extra investlent And why is it that so many people, | :11:47. | :11:56. | |
leaders, agreed to join that cause? I think it's because we've now | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
reached the point where there is a growing recognition that we have to | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
end what is an absolute historic injustice and we have to ensure | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
equal access to treatment. H give way. Would the right on the | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
gentleman also agree that those leaders now need to translate that | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
action into actions in terms of policy, whether it be nationally but | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
also at local level? I totally agree. We have to set the framework | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
and get the funding in placd but we have to deliver it on a loc`l basis. | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
The point I was going to make was, how can anyone in this chamber | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
possibly justify that if yot have suspected cancer you have the right | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
to a referral with a specialist within two weeks with your GP? If | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
you are a youngster with an eating disorder, you have no such right. | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
And yet we know that the condition can kill. That is a scandal and an | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
outrage and it has to changd. There has to be equality of access. When | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
you do get access too off and I m afraid it's a lottery. As wd | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
discussed in the debate last week we have a continuing scandal of people, | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
as the honourable member for North Durham indicated earlier, pdople | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
being shunted around the cotntry in search of a bed. This would never | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
ever happen if someone was suffering from a stroke or a heart condition. | :13:23. | :13:29. | |
It is a complete scandal and an inaccessible access to treatment. I | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
accept what you're saying btt one of the problems is that you have got | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
people in beds for far too long One of the crisis point in London is | :13:40. | :13:46. | |
access for adequate housing. I was so pleased for the honourable member | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
making that point in his spdech It's not the answer to just have | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
more beds. Actually we should be reducing the length of stay is | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
actually not therapeutic for the individual, often. I can't give way, | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
I'm afraid, I've got very lhmited time. At the heart of this | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
inequality is the stigma th`t is still attached to mental he`lth | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
We've made real progress in combating that but we have ` way to | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
go. My message to the Government is that the inequality of access is | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
morally wrong and we can't begin to justify one person not getthng | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
access in the way that somebody else does in our publicly funded NHS | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
It's a scandal. I was pleasdd the Secretary of State acknowledged that | :14:32. | :14:33. | |
but they now have to deliver that equality of access and we now have | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
to deliver the vision that he and I set out last October by 2020. It is | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
morally wrong but also economically stupid, as many other members have | :14:44. | :14:50. | |
mentioned. We reckon at the Centre for mental health that we spend | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
about ?130 billion a year on the failures of and the neglect of | :14:55. | :14:57. | |
mental ill health, though to continue to neglect it is stupid and | :14:58. | :15:05. | |
it is completely counter-productive. If you make the investment tpfront, | :15:06. | :15:08. | |
you will achieve savings further down the track. I welcome the ? 00 | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
million that the Chancellor indicated would be made avahlable to | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
mental health in this Parli`ment in the spending review. That is real | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
progress. But it's not enough. We have to keep arguing the case for | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
genuine equality. We need, hn a sense, to do two things. We need to | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
spend the money differently. Many other honourable members have made | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
the point that we need to shift resources away from sort of | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
containing people often in long state, secure settings, to darly | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
intervention and recovery and to ensuring that there is propdr crisis | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
support in the community to stop those admissions to hospital which | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
are so damaging to someone's well-being. There also needs to be | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
upfront investment to fund ` programme for comprehensive maximum | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
waiting time standards incltding four children and young people, so | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
that there is a complete eqtilibria, equal rights of access for | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
treatment. We published that vision last year and I the Secretary of | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
State will deliver it. If wd give up and don't deliver this, if we give | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
up on the rights of equal access, to end the discrimination at the heart | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
of our NHS, if we don't envx historic injustice, we will let down | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
countless families across the country. It would be an uttdr | :16:27. | :16:27. | |
disgrace to do so. Thank you, Madam Deputy Spe`ker I | :16:28. | :16:37. | |
thank the honourable lady for bringing this debate today. I truly | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
believe that mental health hs the social challenge of our gendration. | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
Two aside is now the biggest killer in Britain of young men unddr 5 . | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
Today in our country there will be 17 of our fellow men and wolen who | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
take their lives. This year that's far has seen the greatest ntmber of | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
male suicides ever. Suicide kills more young people than any physical | :17:00. | :17:02. | |
illness and in Plymouth at the moment I'm trying to visit dvery | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
school in my constituency bdfore the end of the academic year and | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
teachers have been genuinelx struck by the dramatic increase in mental | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
health issues in young people since even I left school 15 years ago | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
There is also the classic issues about underreporting of mental | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
health conditions for fear of the stigma that surrounds the whole | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
issue, so these if anything may be worse. I believe how we deal with | :17:26. | :17:33. | |
this challenge will define our future in communities such `s mine | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
in Plymouth. I think our approach to mental health is that important and | :17:39. | :17:40. | |
I'm determined to win this battle for those in Plymouth who do not | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
have the strength to fight for it themselves. It requires a gdnuine | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
shift in our attitudes, that most difficult of challenges, to achieve | :17:50. | :17:56. | |
the change we want in mental health. Interventions in mental health can | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
produce the most brilliant results. Whether it is the inspirational | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
staff at the Marine Academy in Plymouth who make talking about | :18:06. | :18:08. | |
mental health part of the school day or whether it is people at train | :18:09. | :18:18. | |
stations who look out for pdople who may throw themselves onto an | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
oncoming train. Whether it hs trying to totally be stigmatised t`lking | :18:27. | :18:28. | |
about post-traumatic stress and other prevalent mental health | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
conditions in young men. Whdther it is any of these examples, e`rly | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
intervention talking about lental health can have dramatic effects. | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
Even this is not enough on hts own. Mr Speaker, the real intervdntions | :18:43. | :18:45. | |
of work are early interventhons Last week I started and invdctive | :18:46. | :18:53. | |
mental health group to find a way of producing a similar mental health | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
strategy to that of Trieste in Italy. We want a 20 47 ment`l health | :18:58. | :19:06. | |
capability in Plymouth to m`tch our capability of dealing with physical | :19:07. | :19:14. | |
health. He is making a brilliant speech. Does he agree that spending | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
should actually reflect comlitments at a national level for parhty of | :19:20. | :19:21. | |
esteem for mental and physical health? I thank my right honourable | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
friend for his health and I completely agree. I draw his | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
attention to the speech abott ring fencing these funds and how | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
important it is to make surd that CCGs do that. I know the Government | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
is committed to establishing this across the country. It may take five | :19:46. | :19:48. | |
months or five years but I `nd others will continue to keep going | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
until we get there, because this problem is too big to fail `t. We | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
have to be the Government that turned the corner on this. Hf we are | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
rightly fixated on delivering our manifesto pledges, we must `lso | :20:04. | :20:10. | |
focus on those who will not make as much noise if we fail but whose need | :20:11. | :20:12. | |
is equally of as great importance. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. I | :20:13. | :20:20. | |
want to make some brief rem`rks in support of the motion but also to | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
welcome the opportunity to talk about this issue. I do so as someone | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
who, like very many people hn this house and millions of peopld around | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
the country, have had my life affected by mental ill-health. I | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
grew up in a home where a vdry close family member suffered severe | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
depression and had a number of breakdowns. Ie Gasparyan how it | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
affected the whole family over many years -- I experienced how ht | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
affected the whole family over many years in terms of regular lhfe and | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
the need for other family mdmbers to be home carers. Like probably all of | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
us, I have had a number of friends affected and some years ago a close | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
friend committed suicide as a result of her depression. My own pdrsonal | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
experience of mental ill-he`lth like other members of this house I | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
think there are a number of us probably, have suffered frol | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
depression. As a result of those depressive episodes, I know how it | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
feels to be able to come to be unable to function normally, to be | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
unable to perform the most basic everyday tasks because the weight of | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
the depression is so overwhdlming. I know how debilitating depression and | :21:34. | :21:35. | |
mental ill-health can be. It's actually quite difficult to explain | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
it to people who have not experienced it, but just how | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
debilitating it can be. I'm really heartened that increasingly mental | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
health is not only being recognised but acknowledged and spoken about. | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
Increasingly people access that this is an illness that should bd without | :21:53. | :22:02. | |
big or to blue -- that should be without stigma or taboo. Thhs | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
affects people of all backgrounds and ages. More and more I think my | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
XP variants is not unusual. As someone who was a councillor for | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
many years before who -- before coming to this house in May, I have | :22:19. | :22:25. | |
noticed the increase in people coming for help. Many feel failed by | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
the system. We need to treat those people with sensitivity and | :22:31. | :22:33. | |
understanding. It's not just the right thing to do for the | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
individual. In relation to addressing constituents's ldad, you | :22:41. | :22:49. | |
may have seen our bill on mdntal health care, mothers should be able | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
to get that within a reason`ble distance, 75 miles, rather than the | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
current postcode lottery. It is a very important issue and I thank him | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
for raising his Private member's bill. I had someone who camd to me | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
recently with some very difficult circumstances that left thel unable | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
to work and they were told by the job centre that in order to maintain | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
their benefits, they were rdquired to take part in telephone | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
counselling and that was without reference to their GP. It ttrned out | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
to be an extremely detrimental experience. It brought up episodes | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
on the part that meant that my constituent was that back in their | :23:28. | :23:30. | |
recovery actually and is now even further away from the ability to | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
reading confidence and rejohn the workforce. | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
Because of my personal experience, I understand how mental illness can | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
blight of the Society of an individual. | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
That is white cuts to mental health services and particularly | :23:50. | :23:58. | |
preventative services, as the Secretary of State acknowledged | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
earlier, a false economy and we are seeing the effects of cuts to mental | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
health budget at a time when demand is growing and when we can finally | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
acknowledged the need for concerted action to tackle this issue, that is | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
a bad thing. That is why I `m supporting this motion todax. I have | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
experienced how medication `nd physical treatment can make a | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
difference. Medical treatment worked for me but I also know that | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
psychological treatment can work. It is illogical that one can bd | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
enshrined in the rights of the NHS but not the other. We now nded to go | :24:34. | :24:44. | |
beyond and match it with action Can I congratulate colleagues on their | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
contribution so far and welcome familiar faces to mental he`lth | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
debates from the past. This is obviously a massive subject and to | :24:55. | :24:56. | |
cover it in three minutes is impossible. I am struck acttally by | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
the number of different specialities, different problems | :25:01. | :25:03. | |
within mental health that h`ve already been touched on, thd it | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
addiction, dementia, depression stress related illness, eathng | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
disorders of the young, the list goes on and on and on. Sadlx all of | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
these things are increasing in their frequency. Next week and ovdr | :25:17. | :25:19. | |
Christmas I will be working as a doctor, and I can guarantee we will | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
be seeing people with mental health problems during that period. We have | :25:26. | :25:36. | |
talked about service provishon, we might want to reflect upon our | :25:37. | :25:39. | |
society and ask ourselves the difficult question as to whx we are | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
seeing an increase in depression and stress related illness, eathng | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
disorders and the like. I would say it reflects actually what is sick in | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
our own society, our drivers towards excess consumption that we can | :25:55. | :25:56. | |
neither afford financially or indeed physically. I would say that it | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
would be the breakdown of the family, the fact that peopld do not | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
take their parental responshbilities as perhaps they should do on every | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
occasion. The retreat of thd church to be replaced by what exactly? I am | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
not so sure that anything else has come forward to replace the church | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
in terms of that community hub, support for people in distrdss from | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
within communities, not necdssarily from government. I think we should | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
all reflect upon that, and H think we should spend a few weeks, if you | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
months thinking about that, and ask ourselves how we can pass | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
legislation here, how we can ourselves maybe be role moddls. How | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
we can encourage people to seek a better life that is both better in | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
terms of the quality-of-lifd that you lead, but also better in terms | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
of your physical and mental health. But forgive me, forgive me | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
colleagues, just want to mention one thing with regards to forensic | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
psychiatry, my constituency is proud to host the pre-eminent high | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
security hospital Broadmoor. Broadmoor hospital is widelx | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
renowned internationally as well. It is being redeveloped over the next | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
few years. This was a decishon based on a sea QC report commissioned | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
under the previous Labour government, and the decision was | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
made by the Coalition Government. ?250 million to provide 220 new | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
beds, designed around new clinical models. The recidivism rate in | :27:20. | :27:22. | |
Broadmoor, it is not a prison, but if it was replicated across the | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
prison service we would be dxtremely happy. They do remarkably good work. | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
Challenging work dealing with some very difficult cases, the khnd of | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
cases you see in your newsp`pers. I am very proud that this hospital is | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
based in my constituency and I am particularly proud of a sochety that | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
places such emphasis on tre`ting people as patients not crimhnals. | :27:47. | :27:53. | |
Thank you. I too want to talk about PRU from Park hospital that closed | :27:54. | :27:56. | |
in just less than four workhng days. We must remember the impact that | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
closure had on patients, thd fear, the anger, some patients | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
withdrawing, someone thing to die. We must also sing praises of the | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
professionalism of the staff dealing with that sudden closure, btt the | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
closure was avoidable. Therd were too many people involved in | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
decision-making, commissiondrs, providers, historic England, the | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
owners of the buildings and others. That is one of the failings of what | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
happened at Booth. We must `lso recognise that with the change of | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
provider there were politics and blame that did insular and that must | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
be investigated because it had an impact. We must also look at the | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
role of the sea QC, the knowledge that the role that they had in | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
having to inspect a building did have an impact on patient s`fety. | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
Therefore it is absolutely vital that we have independent enpuiries, | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
something I have requested, 800 000 people in my constituency h`ve | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
requested too. I want a sponsor from the Minister today that we can have | :29:05. | :29:07. | |
that enquiry, it is needed to ensure patient safety for the future. It | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
may be an embarrassing situ`tion but we have to push through to lake the | :29:12. | :29:19. | |
servers so. If was scattered across the city. Travelling miles hn a | :29:20. | :29:27. | |
crisis. That is not acceptable. Therefore it is essential that we | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
have answers to what happendd at Bootham hospital. But also to look | :29:35. | :29:36. | |
back at the social health and care act at the heart of the problem | :29:37. | :29:39. | |
There is nobody with overarching responsibility. For patient safety | :29:40. | :29:48. | |
in the NHS. Different jurisdiction, different regulators have dhfferent | :29:49. | :29:50. | |
responsibilities and there `re no mechanisms for responding to this. | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
We also need to look at the role of the Secretary of State in this. Now | :29:55. | :30:02. | |
having a due to to promote `n NHS, no longer to provide and secure | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
That has an impact, because you can point a finger but don't have to | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
lift a finger. We need to look back at that again. Also the rold of the | :30:11. | :30:18. | |
CQC. My second plea today is that we do have clarity over the replacement | :30:19. | :30:25. | |
of Bootham Park hospital. When the Chancellor stood up in the @utumn | :30:26. | :30:28. | |
Statement he said three new hospitals would come to fruhtion. | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
One the York was not mentioned. I want to know if that was about | :30:34. | :30:37. | |
mental health not getting the parity of status or whether we're not | :30:38. | :30:40. | |
getting that, and we do need clarity on that today. | :30:41. | :30:53. | |
I would like, if I may, to cast your mind back to the summer. As a new | :30:54. | :31:00. | |
MP, it was a Sunday, and I were sitting on the grass reading through | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
my casework. Many of the ustal items of correspondence, housing, planning | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
and then a letter and a momdnt I would ever forget, a letter from a | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
constituent, Steve Mallon, telling of the tragic suicide of his | :31:15. | :31:20. | |
18-year-old son, a brilliant, if the Germanic, grade eight piano, | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
straight a stars at A-level and a place reserved at Cambridge | :31:25. | :31:33. | |
University. Mental health. They are not dirty words. We all havd a state | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
of mental health, just as wd all have a state of physical he`lth We | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
have good days, we have bad days. We all have them, everyone of ts. For | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
most of us, the good days follow those bad days and overcome them. | :31:49. | :31:51. | |
But tragically this didn't happen for Edward. Today, I want to talk | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
about what we in this room can do to make sure there are no more Edwards. | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
Members will know I want thhs house to work together to resolve problems | :32:03. | :32:06. | |
not point fingers of failurd so I would urge all sides of this house | :32:07. | :32:11. | |
to recognise the good work that has been done so far and to comlit to | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
working together to achieve more. I believe you are building on the | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
foundations laid by the Ichdr Mendis work of Norman Lamb and the health | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
and social care act of 2012. We have seen investment of 1.25 billion to | :32:25. | :32:30. | |
help deliver the future and mind initiative. The Department for | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
Education's first mental he`lth champion, and what a fireball she | :32:36. | :32:41. | |
is. There is a 3 million pilot programme just announced thhs week | :32:42. | :32:44. | |
to support mental health in schools across the country, and givdn a 10% | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
of children under 16 have a clinical diagnosable mental health problem | :32:50. | :32:52. | |
and 75% of all mental illness predates higher education, we are | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
focusing on the right things. Prevention is a far better leans | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
than a cure-all, a cure that by the time it comes as the stated | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
families, communities and the wider economy. Ask Steve Mallon, `sked his | :33:05. | :33:10. | |
family, and ask the village of Mildred, because they know. We could | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
argue all day about whether the government is spending enough on the | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
cure but I don't want us to do that. I am very grateful for the | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
honourable lady for giving way, she is making a very passionate case, | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
would she agree with me that we need to get the whole of the NHS to sign | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
up to a commitment to a zero suicide ambition? This is not setting a | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
target, just changing the ctlture so everyone focuses on saving lives? | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
Yes, it should be the fundalental. There should be no alternathve, that | :33:47. | :33:49. | |
is absolutely right. Nobody doubts the need to improve mental health, | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
nobody doubts that money isn't growing on trees either. Investment | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
is increasing but I fear thd scale of the problem is far greatdr than | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
any government cheque-book. It is bigger than that but I also know | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
that we are capable of being bigger than that too. Let's cast aside | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
party politics and make this our issue, not just the governmdnt's | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
issue. In South Cambridgeshhre, we are pulling the resources of | :34:17. | :34:22. | |
schools, world leading acaddmics, local authorities, politici`ns, | :34:23. | :34:23. | |
parents, everyone to do things differently. With Steve and the | :34:24. | :34:29. | |
memory of his son Edward at the helm, we want to roll out a | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
timetable early intervention and prevention programme in every single | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
one of our schools. We are trialling it, developing it, and in M`rch next | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
year we will launch it at an international Conference in | :34:42. | :34:44. | |
Cambridge, which Alister Burton has committed to already. I havd no | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
doubt of the personal dedic`tion of Alister Burton. The honourable lady | :34:49. | :34:55. | |
must refer to members by thdir constituency names. I was gdnuinely | :34:56. | :35:03. | |
unaware. I have no doubt of the personal dedication of our | :35:04. | :35:06. | |
ministers. They have proved it to me and more importantly proved it to | :35:07. | :35:16. | |
Steve Mallon. If we have le`rnt one thing about mental health, ht is | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
that we need to talk about ht. The answer is a plea not about cash it | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
is about partnership working, and I urge every membership of thhs house | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
to join in this fight together. If honourable members wish to be kind | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
to their fellow members, thdy will now take three minutes or ldss and | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
no interventions. If that doesn t happen, there will be sever`l people | :35:42. | :35:45. | |
who don't get to speak at all. It is up to members how they wish to | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
behave. In Salford and Ecclds, we know only too well the urgent need | :35:52. | :35:55. | |
to provide better mental he`lth services but we need to focts my | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
remarks today more specific`lly on children's mental health services. | :36:00. | :36:09. | |
Only 6% of the mental health budget is spent on children and adolescents | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
services. Young minds, a le`ding mental health charity, has confirmed | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
that due to local government cuts 60% of local authorities have either | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
cut or frozen their cams budgets in 2010. Research has shown early | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
intervention is with paramotnt importance, with one in ten children | :36:30. | :36:39. | |
having a chronic problem. E`rly intervention is also key to ensure | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
that an issue doesn't escal`te to the stage where hospitalisation is | :36:44. | :36:51. | |
required. One inpatient bed costs a staggering ?25,000 a month, so it is | :36:52. | :36:54. | |
perfectly clear that adequate investment into the lower thers of | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
CAMS provision is not just ` case of social conscience, it is a latter of | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
economic common sense. I must also address the systems in placd for | :37:05. | :37:07. | |
ensuring children who present at all health issues receive the rdquisite | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
health at the earliest opportunity. GPs are often the first point of | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
contact for parents whose child is experiencing a mental health | :37:18. | :37:22. | |
problem. GPs have however voiced concerns nationally that thdy are | :37:23. | :37:24. | |
not sufficiently equipped to deal with children with mental hdalth | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
issues, and their current training does not prepare them adequ`tely for | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
such situations. Time and thme again I am made aware of cases in my | :37:33. | :37:37. | |
constituency where a child did not present symptoms clearly enough to a | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
GP. A referral was not made, and a problem that could have been dealt | :37:42. | :37:44. | |
with relatively easily escalated to the point where the child bdcame | :37:45. | :37:47. | |
seriously ill and required hospitalisation. There are `lso | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
barriers to referral, such `s the POI limits, in relation to dating | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
disorders, which my honourable friend highlighted earlier. I wonder | :37:59. | :38:01. | |
if the ministers present cotld outline what further provishon and | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
guidance the government will provide a GPs to address the issues? The | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
case for early intervention in Salford becomes all the mord | :38:12. | :38:14. | |
convincing when you consider the shortage of inpatient beds hn | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
Manchester. I have been working with a family whose child desper`tely | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
needed early treatment, and due to a lack of available beds, the child | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
was admitted to a general p`ediatric ward where they waited for lonths | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
until a bed became availabld. While the staff were amazing, the simple | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
fact remains that this child was not on the correct ward and was | :38:36. | :38:38. | |
therefore not receiving the psychiatric treatment that was | :38:39. | :38:39. | |
immediately required. Whilst I appreciate some of the | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
measures the Government's t`king, I have concerns they will bardly begin | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
to address the issues I've raised today. I want to look at mental | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
health in the justice systel and include the police. I'm ple`sed | :38:57. | :39:02. | |
we've made progress in this, at least in my only county, police cars | :39:03. | :39:09. | |
are no longer used to transport mental health patients, ambtlances | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
are. NICE has been asked to develop guidelines on improving mental | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
health for those in prison. The need is to identify those who have mental | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
health problems and to support them as the Government has recognised. | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
The choice here is to be supported with mental health issues as a | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
prisoner moves along the crhminal justice pathway or for them to be | :39:33. | :39:35. | |
diverted into treatment or hndeed into social care. The integration of | :39:36. | :39:42. | |
social care with the NHS in this context, I think, can contrhbute | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
quite a lot to this process. The service provided to prisoners needs | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
to be consistent across the UK. I was pleased to hear the rem`rks by | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
the Secretary of State about the involvement of the Kings Fund in | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
doing this. The great need for prisoners is to have the sale access | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
to services for mental health issues as non-prisoners. It is also | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
necessary to ensure continuhty of treatment across the prison estate. | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
Also, through into the non-prison environment. I think that continuity | :40:18. | :40:25. | |
between the two is crucial hn providing for the better facilities | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
for those prisoners who havd mental health issues. This goes back to the | :40:30. | :40:35. | |
crisis and the need for good access to support. Prisoners need to know | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
their problems are genuinelx taken seriously and they can get help when | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
they need it. This indeed c`n help what my Right Honourable Frhend the | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
member for North Somerset w`s talking about in terms of the huge | :40:51. | :40:56. | |
number of men that are suichde victims in tackling this. I think | :40:57. | :41:03. | |
that has to be acknowledged. I would like to congratulate the Government | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
on the way it has moved forward with this in recognising the need for | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
parity between mental and physical health services. I'm also extremely | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
grateful for the ?600 million put into the system by the Chancellor in | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
the Autumn Statement as indded was the Royal college of psychi`trists | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
who said they were pleased to see the Chancellor committing an | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
additional ?600 million funding for mental health in the Spending | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
Review. This is good news, they say. I'm proud of the work Labour mental | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
health have done to highlight many of the issues faced today. Hn | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
particular, I congratulate the work of my constituent Victoria | :41:50. | :41:53. | |
dis-Monday. I want to raise the case of one of my constituents, Keane, he | :41:54. | :42:02. | |
was 18 when he took his own life. Keane group in care, foster homes | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
and had a history of mental health problems. They were compounded by | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
the problems society threw `t him. His unemployment benefits wdre | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
stopped after he missed a doctor's appointment. This is where people | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
are being sanctioned through now fault of their own. Cane was hit | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
again when the Monye lender Wong Ga, with whom he'd taken a payd`y loan | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
cleared out his bank account in part payment of his debt. He was | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
destitute without a penny to his name. Hours later, Cane hanged | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
himself. A shocking story. @ young boy who'd already had more than his | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
fair share of problems in lhfe left penniless by a payday loan company | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
after already being penalisdd by the state who withdrew his benefits it | :42:53. | :42:55. | |
must have seeped like he had nowhere else to turn for help, support and | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
for a little human understanding. And, of course, Cane is not alone. | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
He's one of many 16-year-olds, many men on average who commit sticide | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
every year in my constituency. Many more attempt to take their own | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
lives. It is a truly miserable fact that men are three times more likely | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
to take their own lives than women. It would be wrong to specul`te about | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
the reasons, but it seemser fuelable to me economic circumstances do play | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
some part. I try to be non-partisan but I can honestry say from my own | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
experience and that of my mtm who suffered from bipolar for m`ny years | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
that the Government, when they shout about rhetoric about long-tdrm | :43:42. | :43:43. | |
economic plan when they cut taxes to the richest in the nation and tell | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
my mum you have to move bec`use of the bedroom tax, you're havhng your | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
benefits cut, we're cutting local authorities and the charitids that | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
look after people like my mtm like Mind could no longer offer the | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
support like she once had. Dconomics plays a huge part in the trdatment. | :44:02. | :44:08. | |
The number of beds in Greatdr Manchester has been cut by 4%. My | :44:09. | :44:15. | |
honourable friend raised earlier the regional press in my area today | :44:16. | :44:23. | |
report add consultation starting to cut ?1.5 million more than 600 | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
patients are set to be hit by these proposed cuts. People listening to | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
this debate and they need stpport, I commend the services out thdre, the | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
charities, voluntary sector, including the Samaritans I tsed to | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
be a member of. Thank you. Ht is very important to reflect on who | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
this debate is about. This debate is about the thousands of people across | :44:47. | :44:50. | |
this country who may have woken up this morning with the feeling that | :44:51. | :44:53. | |
they might not be able to gdt through the day. It is for the young | :44:54. | :44:59. | |
boy, maybe 14, feeling conftsed and depressed at school and not knowing | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
where to get help. It's for the young girl who is prepared to starve | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
herself potentially to death because of issues to do with body ilage | :45:08. | :45:14. | |
This debate is for the middle-aged man, who is 40, who may be | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
contemplating suicide because of a sense of a lot of his identhty. This | :45:19. | :45:25. | |
debate is about the older pdrson, maybe the 75-year-old woman who may | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
have just suffered a bereavdment, feeling isolated and depressed and | :45:31. | :45:33. | |
not knowing where to go for help. Those are the people that wd are | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
speaking about today. It is true and my role as the chair of the`ll party | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
group for mental health, thd public debate about mental health has | :45:46. | :45:48. | |
radically changed over the last decade. Celebrities talking about | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
their mental health. Members of Parliament talking about thdir | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
mental health. What that has done is it has created a completely unique | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
context in which we can talk about mental health policy today. We have | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
an historic opportunity, and this Government has an historic | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
opportunity to make a genuine difference to the direction of | :46:12. | :46:17. | |
mental health policy in Britain As we move forward, it makes sdnse that | :46:18. | :46:24. | |
out of the ?14 billion we spend on mental health services in Britain, | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
that we move resources to t`ckling the issue at its source. Whdther | :46:30. | :46:37. | |
that's in terms of the Government's commitment to Mount perinat`l | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
health, improving, in fact, radically transforming child and | :46:44. | :46:46. | |
adolescent mental health service sos we get rid of this tiering system | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
which is more suited to the commissioners rather than pdople who | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
actually want to use the services. We need radical change in that area. | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
We need to have a crisis care system where if an individual rings up and | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
says I'm having a crisis, they get help and they get compassionate | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
help. But overall, we need ` vision for mental health policy whhch | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
achieves the following. That talking about mental health in socidty by | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
individuals, families, in communities, is thought to be | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
entirely normal. An entirelx norm Alpart of our conversation `bout an | :47:28. | :47:33. | |
individual's place, their mhnd in their family and in their community. | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
And we have that opportunitx and we need to take that opportunity as a | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
Government. I congratulate the honourable lady in securing a | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
debate. It is a great privilege to speak. On 1 #19 April 2002 football | :47:50. | :47:55. | |
fans in England held their breath after David Beckham broke hhs second | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
met tarsal bone on his left foot and was ruled out of the World Cup 0 | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
days before at the kicked off. Over the days and weeks the footballing | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
fans watched with trepidation as Beckham recovered. Most of xou will | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
be wondering what on earth this tale has to do with the matter of meant | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
altogether health. A great deal At the heart of this issue is parity | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
and esteem for physical and meant at health. How we frame our vision and | :48:25. | :48:31. | |
parity esteem is something we have in Scottish legislation. If Beckham | :48:32. | :48:38. | |
suffered mental health issud which prevented him from training and | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
playing would he have admitted to having a mental illness. Wotld we | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
have tracked his recovery? For a whole variety of reasons we treat | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
mental health in a completely different way to physical hdalth. | :48:54. | :48:56. | |
There's no good reason or explanation for why this is. How we | :48:57. | :48:59. | |
frame the debate is hugely important. According to the charity | :49:00. | :49:07. | |
Mind who surveyed 6,000 people in 2015, over a third of peopld face | :49:08. | :49:14. | |
stigma and disdrip nest. Ovdr half said it was bad or worse th`n the | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
illness itself. In Scotland, we are proud early introduction of child | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
and adolescent mental health services has supported CAMHS. The | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
Government is invested ?100 million in Scotland to ensure our pdople are | :49:33. | :49:38. | |
eye quipped to support thesd mental sir health services. In partnership | :49:39. | :49:45. | |
with Chris Hoy they are building on the success of sport in Scotland | :49:46. | :49:50. | |
such as the recent 2014 Comlonwealth Games. The time is right for sport | :49:51. | :49:57. | |
to use its collective power to tackle discrimination around mental | :49:58. | :49:59. | |
ill-health. It is important to recognise the cause of ment`l | :50:00. | :50:02. | |
ill-health and how we can ensure every child and young person gets | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
the best start in life. I fhnd it incredible the UK Government's | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
continuing with its austerity agenda. A recent report on | :50:13. | :50:20. | |
psychologist highlights it hs well established austerity hit the | :50:21. | :50:22. | |
poorest much harder than thd wealthy. We have been balancing the | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
book on the back of the poor. They also argue what has not been | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
sufficiently highlighted is the psychological prize paid. In | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
closing, I'd like to read the last two par graphs of a poem a | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
constituent who suffered mental health illness sent to me. H know | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
we've had this conversation before, this time I'm throwing you out of | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
the door. I tried in the past but didn't want to be rude. You've done | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
me such good. I appreciate xou've been my friend. Now it has to end. I | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
cannot keep you by my side there were times you almost let md die: | :51:00. | :51:07. | |
People deserve better service. For too long, some constituents battled | :51:08. | :51:11. | |
to get the care they need. Lany do get excellent care. I want to pay | :51:12. | :51:19. | |
tribute to the staff of the Norfolk and Suffolk mental Healthcare Trust. | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
I am pleased to see my honotrable colleague for Norwich south and | :51:25. | :51:35. | |
North Norfolk --. We should debate completing the job of bringhng meant | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
at health into the light and into an era where the norm is of a better | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
service and every patient gdts the treatment they need. I am ctrrently | :51:43. | :51:51. | |
helping constituents living with people who are going out of control: | :51:52. | :51:59. | |
About out of county beds. Poor provision of service is not | :52:00. | :52:03. | |
acceptable. It is not just. People deserve better service. There are | :52:04. | :52:07. | |
three things I want to say. The first is the funding matters. The | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
second is equality matters. The third is good management matters | :52:13. | :52:15. | |
too. The welcome the steps on funding this Government's t`king to | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
increase investment. The Norfolk and Suffolk trust as I mentioned have | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
been open about the funding shortfall they perceive in their | :52:24. | :52:26. | |
books compared to the hospital down the road. The Chief Executive called | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
for the same system of fundhng for mental health when compared to | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
physical health. Turning to the commissioners of the seven C C in | :52:37. | :52:43. | |
the region whilst the overall budget for this year rose by just over 6%, | :52:44. | :52:49. | |
spend on mental health incrdased by just over 4%. Nourish C C notes | :52:50. | :52:56. | |
their spend on mental health increased significantly in real | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
terms by almost ?2 million. They believe access to mental he`lthcare | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
is consistent across the cotntry in line demand. I welcome the | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
transparency measures. Turnhng to equality. We need to see a proper | :53:11. | :53:17. | |
parity of esteem between mental and physical health through funding It | :53:18. | :53:24. | |
is welcomed the planning repuirement commission were in mental hdalth. | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
Good management is needed as well as the minister made the argumdnt | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
recently in the eastern daily press whose campaign I pay tributd to My | :53:34. | :53:36. | |
trust is in special mesh usd is subject to an improvement plan. We | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
must work with them to support them to get better. Staff have m`de clear | :53:42. | :53:45. | |
the pressures they perceive. I pay tribute to the staff. The C C | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
found the trust was good at caring. But inadequately led. Its fhnancial | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
management was lacking. Pathents deserve better. Other trusts are | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
doing better. Norwich deserves better. | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
If everyone is to get in and we finished the debate on time, we have | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
to have a limit now of two linutes. Petered out. Thank you. There they | :54:13. | :54:19. | |
stand, isolated, Majestic, imperious, brooded over by the | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
gigantic water tower and Germany combined, rising unmistakable and | :54:25. | :54:27. | |
dominating out of the countryside, the asylums which our foref`thers | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
built with such solidity to express the notions of their day. Who would | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
want to go back to that description by Enoch Powell, Minister of health | :54:38. | :54:42. | |
at the time, of the old country asylums? The proposals set the | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
country on the path of integrated community services for thosd people | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
with mental health issues, with an emphasis on the hospital behng the | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
place of last resort. No wonder what the complexity of the issue, but | :54:58. | :55:01. | |
there is a real danger we whll have a system that doesn't do ond thing | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
or the other. On the one hand, mental health hospitals strtggling | :55:06. | :55:09. | |
to cope with demand for inp`tient beds, and on the other hand | :55:10. | :55:12. | |
community services struggling to cope. A sin by Artic relationship | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
that feeds off the gradual hnability of the others to cope with demand, | :55:18. | :55:21. | |
despite the best efforts of staff in those services. Despite the best | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
efforts of my colleagues in five boroughs mental health trust, Mersey | :55:29. | :55:31. | |
care in my area and charitids and local authorities workers. But what | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
happens if we don't have carers We need to give them more support, | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
concrete support, not warm words. I am not pointing the finger `t the | :55:43. | :55:45. | |
government, I am not doing that I think it is beyond pointing the | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
finger. We genuinely have to get down to the issue but the government | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
is the government, and the government has a significant | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
responsibility to get to grhps with this burgeoning and growing crisis | :55:59. | :56:01. | |
and I hope the Minister has the vision to do that. Ben Harld at | :56:02. | :56:10. | |
Thank you. May I join the words that have been said by an awful lot of | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
honourable members today for the courage and bravery of membdrs | :56:15. | :56:17. | |
standing up in this place and speaking about their own mental | :56:18. | :56:24. | |
health issues. The member for Sutton Coldfield and Broxbourne as well, it | :56:25. | :56:31. | |
gave me enough confidence to come forward thing about my own lental | :56:32. | :56:34. | |
health issues and to try and confront those as a new member of | :56:35. | :56:37. | |
Parliament has always been difficult, I have to admit, the | :56:38. | :56:40. | |
first couple of months, but with the help and support of people hn this | :56:41. | :56:44. | |
place but also people in my own constituency, I am managing to get | :56:45. | :56:47. | |
through that and I completely understand what I have someone | :56:48. | :56:50. | |
coming into my constituency talking about their own mental health | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
issues, the difficulties thdy face in being able to find the rhght | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
correct signposting. I completely agree with honourable members when | :56:59. | :57:06. | |
we say we have a responsibility as MPs will be speak about mental | :57:07. | :57:09. | |
health in this place. In ond of my surgeries, I have decided to do on a | :57:10. | :57:15. | |
regular basis, will work on mental health with Sa Rhona care in my own | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
constituency and I will be holding hearsay information hubs, which I | :57:20. | :57:23. | |
held recently. I have to adlit I had been pretty startled by the number | :57:24. | :57:26. | |
of people who have come forward to my surgeries over the last six | :57:27. | :57:29. | |
months with mental health issues. I am at the very end of the journey on | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
mental health. They should have ended up being picked up well before | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
they even come to my office. I am seeing a radical improvement over | :57:40. | :57:42. | |
the last five years anyway, just seeing what it is like workhng | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
alongside the NHS for the l`st seven years. My own constituency has | :57:47. | :57:53. | |
Hillview, an excellent facility and they are increasing the numbers of | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
psychiatric beds. That is ddfinitely a benefit. Also a range of different | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
community organisations and charities like Bath Mind, which the | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
Secretary of State visited just before the general election. I did I | :58:09. | :58:11. | |
will ever forget some of thd work they are doing. I am helping them | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
out at the moment. But we do play a very vital part in this deb`te and | :58:17. | :58:19. | |
hopefully we will be able to sign post more of our constituents to the | :58:20. | :58:30. | |
right place. I want to focus my speech today on the attitudd towards | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
the prevalence of mental he`lth problems in young black men. I think | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
this is an important topic to address because whilst the | :58:39. | :58:40. | |
prevalence of mental health conditions amongst young people is | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
often discussed here, it is less often discussed in the housd in | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
terms of race. Blackman in Britain are 17 times more likely th`n their | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
white counterparts to be di`gnosed with psychotic illness. Studies | :58:54. | :59:01. | |
carried out in Lambeth, an `rea with a 26% black population, the largest | :59:02. | :59:05. | |
in the country, found that 70% of the borough's resident insecure | :59:06. | :59:12. | |
psychiatric settings are of African and Caribbean origin. The m`jority | :59:13. | :59:16. | |
enter via primary care, but young black African people are more likely | :59:17. | :59:21. | |
to enter via the court or the police. According to a report by | :59:22. | :59:27. | |
Mind in 2013 in a survey of black people's experiences of mental | :59:28. | :59:31. | |
health services, 46% had bedn restrained by mental health staff. | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
Of these, 79% thought it was aggressive, and 34% had been | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
physically injured. We need to listen and act upon reports that | :59:41. | :59:46. | |
such of the health Enfield, which serve eight 77 people in thd | :59:47. | :59:51. | |
community. The majority of them were young people and their parents, and | :59:52. | :59:54. | |
they found, amongst many conclusions, that there werd | :59:55. | :59:59. | |
cultural, language and access to services for black and ethnhc | :00:00. | :00:05. | |
minority communities that ndeds to be considered by the governlent It | :00:06. | :00:10. | |
needs to take into account racial differences. I think this whll be | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
one. Forward to ensure that we have an adequate service that helps all | :00:17. | :00:18. | |
of those in this country who suffer with mental health issues. H am | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
grateful for the chance to speak, and an honour to follow the | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
honourable member for Edmonton. I would like to follow with rdmarks on | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
young people's mental health will stop every year I am privildged to | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
bring young people into Parliament for an induction day, and I ask them | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
what the biggest challenges were facing them and their gener`tion. I | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
thought the answer would be how to get into a decent universitx, and | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
how to be able to fund a pl`ce there, but in unison they all said, | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
all ten of them, mental health was the biggest challenge. I fotnd that | :00:56. | :01:02. | |
quite staggering. Based on various cases I have dealt with, I have | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
taken a much closer interest in the subject, and work hard to fhnd out | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
more about the issues relathng to young people. Clearly the challenge | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
is increasing. Referrals ard up 25% in my constituency. Social ledia | :01:17. | :01:31. | |
amplifies these challenges. One thing I would ask during thhs | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
debate, to those who have brought the likes of Assassins Creed to this | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
group of young people we work with and other weird sounding colputer | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
games, please use that creativity that you have, that ability to | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
communicate with young people, to develop digital approaches that will | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
help young people feel more comfortable about who they `re, and | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
more comfortable about the place they have in both the real world and | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
the digital space. There is a responsibility there. I am `lso | :02:02. | :02:03. | |
pleased we are going to hear from the right honourable friend the | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
member for North East Bedfordshire who takes a keen interest in this | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
area. The extra funding is being used to tackle real funding on the | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
ground and we are seeing best practice come about, with young | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
advisers in our area who ard helping to use proof our local servhces Our | :02:19. | :02:26. | |
emotionally healthy schools programme is bringing together an | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
integrated approach. My own local mental health trust, the Norfolk and | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, was the first mental health trust in | :02:38. | :02:39. | |
England to be placed in special measures where I am afraid ht | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
currently still languishes. But throughout all that, it is the stuff | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
I want to praise, I believe that have held that mental health trust | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
together, but have kept it going throughout this tough time. Yet | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
throughout the coalition ye`rs, as now, we hear so much about parity of | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
esteem between dental and physical health. Unfortunately, the reality | :02:58. | :03:05. | |
has and is very, very different Unison members in my constituency | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
worked out that if my local health trust were funded using the same | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
formula as my local acute trust it would have an income of arotnd 69 | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
million. Yet that was cut bx ?3 million, and that is what they | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
received instead. Ultimatelx, where parity of esteem a reality rather | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
than empty rhetoric, these cuts would not have been made. In the | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
face of the severe financial constraints, my choice has been to | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
make cuts in early intervention and psychosis, assertive averagd and the | :03:40. | :03:41. | |
specialist homeless teams that were once in place and stop each and | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
every one of them was a force economy. The impact of thesd cuts | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
has been catastrophic. People in crisis in my constituency h`d been | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
left without access to a local mental health bed. Instead, they | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
have been sent hundreds of liles from Norwich, separated frol their | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
families and care teams, as far away as Harrogate, Bradford, London and | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
Brighton, so forgive me if H don't sound too excited by the | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
announcement of the Chancellor's recent ?600 million for mental | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
health services. An investigation by the BBC and community care lagazine | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
in March this year found th`t ? 00 million has been cut from mdntal | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
health since 2010. It is thdrefore an affront to call this ?600 million | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
investment. In reality, it hs barely a replacement. Unfortunatelx it is | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
too late for those in my constituency that have lost their | :04:35. | :04:36. | |
lives or suffered life changing injuries because help was not there | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
when they needed it. This government has failed patients, their families, | :04:42. | :04:49. | |
staff, and ultimately my colmunity. In this time that I have, I just | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
really want to highlight thd importance of preventative work in | :04:55. | :04:56. | |
terms of dealing with mental health issues, and my plea that we do | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
address the focus of that in dealing with mental health. Just a puickie | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
sample, I am not saying my constituency doesn't need more | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
funding and more resources for preventative work or even acute | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
mental health setting, I wanted to highlight some good work th`t is | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
happening locally. In my constituency, the police in Sussex | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
were up until recently at the forefront of dealing with those in | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
mental health crisis. For those of you who don't know my consthtuency, | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
it is on the beautiful Sussdx coast, and I have the picturesque spot of | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
Berling gapped lying right next door to Beachy head, both of which are | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
suicide hotspots. The policd up until recently along with the Beachy | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
head chaplaincy team having to deal with suicide, people standing or | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
sitting on those cliffs, contemplating taking their lives. Up | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
until recently they have had to do that on their own. But sincd last | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
year mental health nurses h`ve been out with Sussex Police on these and | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
other calls to ensure that those suffering an acute mental hdalth | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
crisis not just get the help they need but when they need it. | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
Previously, Sussex Police wdre detaining the highest number of | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
people under the mental health care act because they had no othdr way of | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
looking after them. This is far from ideal. As a prison cell rather than | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
a hospital bed is not conducive to supporting vulnerable adults. So can | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
I ask members opposite to look at some of the great work that is going | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
on, that is not to say we don't need more funds and resources to provide | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
it, but there is some great work happening out there in the field of | :06:32. | :06:32. | |
mental health. This has been an important debate. | :06:33. | :06:42. | |
We have heard astonishingly from 27 speakers that have been fitted into | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
the time, and there were a wide number of interventions durhng the | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
opening speeches and I welcome the involvement of all those melbers | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
taking part. Particularly the honourable member from is c`lled | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
pride, North Somerset, Exetdr, members for Buster, Rochdald, error | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
wash, North Durham, North Norfolk, Plymouth more view, magister | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
Withington, Bracknell, Salford and Eccles, Henley, Ashton under Lyme, | :07:12. | :07:19. | |
Livingston, Norwich North, Bootle, Bath, Edmonton, Macclesfield, Norris | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
South and Lewis. A remarkable group. The Secretary of State was right to | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
thank the honourable members have rocked one, Barrow in Furness and | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
North Durham to talking abott their personal experience, as did my | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
honourable friend. We should always thank honourable members who speak | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
from their own personal expdrience. Also to mention the leadership of | :07:41. | :07:43. | |
the all-party group and the commitment of the numbers from | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
Norfolk North, Sutton Coldfheld Alister Campbell in a group arguing | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
for equality for mental health and an increase in funding. I also want | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
to thank my honourable friend the old East and Saddleworth for her | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
persistence in raising issuds related to suicide and the work | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
capability assessment. The hmpact that changes to these changds can | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
have on people with mental health problems first if we are to have a | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
zero suicide ambition, we mtst do more work on that particular issue, | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
as indeed on the crisis on lale suicide, which was raised bx the | :08:22. | :08:23. | |
Right Honourable member for North Somerset, Rochdale, and Ashton under | :08:24. | :08:32. | |
Lyme. Those Right Honourabld and honourable members have spoken with | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
knowledge of mental health services around the country and also of the | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
excellent work being done in their own constituencies, often bx | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
charities and voluntary projects. Many of the speeches illustrate the | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
fact that our mental health services are under intense pressure `nd | :08:48. | :08:49. | |
urgent need of improvement. In the last Parliament, we heard mtch from | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
ministers on parity of estedm but we saw little progress, and I think all | :08:56. | :08:57. | |
the speeches have shown us today that things have got worse. The | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
independent King 's fund has commented recently parity of esteem | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
for mental health seems a long way off, and the member for York Ousley | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
said exactly the same thing. They are not getting parity of esteem | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
fair, and the Right Honourable member for North Norfolk called the | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
current situation morally wrong and economic stupid. | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
Mental health services have faced cuts. We've focussed on this this | :09:23. | :09:32. | |
this key bait. -- debate. In 20 2, spending on mental health h`d been | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
cut for the first time in a decade. Rather than take action to put it | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
right, ministers discontinudd the survey. Since then, it has been | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
difficult to make accurate assessment of investment in health | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
services. We have to rely on freedom of information requests and expert | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
analysis by charities and independent bodies. The King's Fund | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
found 40% of mental health trusts experienced reductions in income in | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
2014 and 2015. It is a real terms reduction in 8.25% at the s`me time | :10:11. | :10:18. | |
referrals to community health teams have risen by nearly 20%. L`bour's | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
own analysis done by the sh`dow minister found one in three clinical | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
commissioning groups were not spending in line with their budget | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
despite promises from ministers this would be the case. I think H should | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
say if ministers have the determination to change, we welcome | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
that. The suggestion of the Right Honourable Member for North Somerset | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
for ring-fencing funding for mental health was supported by an tm in of | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
honourable members. The Secretary of State admitted earlier he jtst | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
didn't know by how much standards and investment varied across the | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
country. The lack of inform`tion is not good enough. I would ask the | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
minister to reinstate the strvey. That is the way to go. One `rea | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
where we have accurate information is on funding for social care. | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
Social care services play an important role in supporting people | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
with mental health problems. Cuts to social care services have a serious | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
impact on people with mental health needs as do other issues in this | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
debate such as housing. Reports on mental healthcare from the health | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
foundation found the number of people receiving social card support | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
for mental health problems has failen by 29% since 2009/10. Cuts to | :11:41. | :11:48. | |
social care budgets were having an adverse impact on their services. We | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
need to road test policies from other departments for their impact | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
on mental health. Now, the recent Spending Review will surely go down | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
as a missed opportunity to do something about the desperate | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
funding crisis in social care which does affect people with mental | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
health problems? The Chancellor s proposals on social care funding are | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
woefully inadequate. They'll leave a black hole in healthcare Skder viss | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
for older people and people with mental health problems. Govdrnment | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
cuts to Salford City council's budget caused budgets for adult | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
social care to 41 million p year. Cuts of ?15 million. The King's Fund | :12:30. | :12:40. | |
warned this week the decision to use council tax rises to offset | :12:41. | :12:48. | |
difference in mental healthcare .. Now, older people are not jtst being | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
cut by, hit by cuts to soci`l care. They are hit by cuts to mental heal | :12:54. | :13:01. | |
services. The skektry of st`y said depression of more debill d`ting | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
than asthma, angina or dab daty -- diabetes. Some 2 million people are | :13:09. | :13:17. | |
affected by mental health illnesses. 50% in older people in General | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
Hospitals and 60% of older people in care homes. The Secretary of State | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
said talking therapies are lore effective than drugs but Agd UK tell | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
us older people are six timds more likely to be on tranquilisers or | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
medication but only a fifth are likely to have access to talking | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
therapies. While 50% of the younger people with depression are referred | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
to mental health services only % of older people. 85% of older people | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
with depression receive no help at all from the NHS the Governlent is | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
letling older people down bx reducing their access to thd | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
services they need. There is a need for better, emotional and | :14:04. | :14:05. | |
psychological support for c`reers. Caring for a spouse or family member | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
is more common in older age. There are nearly 1.2 million caredrs aged | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
65 plus. Levels of stress and psychological distress are higher | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
with careers who look after people live with dementia. Depresshon can | :14:22. | :14:30. | |
raise to 85% with careers lhving with people with dementia. H hope | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
members from all sides of the house will join us voting for the motion | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
today. Good meant at health is good for our schools, workplaces and our | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
care homes as well as for all our health service. I hope membdrs on | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
all sides of the House will join us on voting for this mocks today and I | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
commend the motion to the House I thank the honourable lady for her | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
remarks and colleagues for ` remarkable debate. I'll comd to them | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
in a moment. Less than a wedk after I was appointed, I made a vhsit to | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
the Mawdsley hospital in Sotth London. I met a parent therd with an | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
eight-year-old little girl who told me of her two year struggle in her | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
home county some 200 miles `way to find information on what wotld be | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
best for her daughter. By hdr own evident orts she hit upon the | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
Mawdsley. Introduce children to mental health difficulties. Giving | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
them the understanding they'd look after their classmates if they had | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
to tumble in the playground they'd look after a friend with a hurt | :15:38. | :15:44. | |
mind. I went a Derby and met and was inspired by Sarah eely who set up | :15:45. | :15:52. | |
borderline arts set up to hdlp against borderline personalhty | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
disorders. She suffers with it. I heard again a familiar refr`in from | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
those around the table. Mental health people saying no-one listened | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
to me. That's how it is with mental health issues in this country. A | :16:09. | :16:10. | |
pattern of light and shade. Good news and bad. So I welcomed this | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
debate which has given the House such an opportunity to raisd a | :16:16. | :16:18. | |
number of the issues which reflect that light and shade. Issues raised | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
in powerful and personal spdeches revealing the depth the pain mental | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
ill-health can cause. Parli`ment now addresses this and will continue to | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
address such matters. There is a sense that progress is being made. | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
That's real progress not political speak progress in areas frol therapy | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
to crisis care. There's still too much variation in the delivdry of | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
services. Areas of unmet nedd. There's much more to do. But, more | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
than ever before, there is ` belief those of us here are listenhng and | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
acting upon what we are hearing In the time available I cannot cover | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
everything. Colleagues who raised specific questions I'll answer by | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
letter. Powerful speech is often about local issues from members from | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
Worcester, Rochdale, Exeter, Livingstone, Salford and Eccles | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
Norwich north and south and Bootle. Can I thank the honourable lady the | :17:17. | :17:24. | |
member for east Kilbride for the way in which she offered the support for | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
a consensual process. I look forward to visit to Scotland to see what's | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
going on there. There's much we can share with each other. Strong | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
personality statements again were made from colleagues who know about | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
these things. Members from north #2kur78, Manchester witheing ton. | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
The honourable member for Edmonton raised the ethnic minority hssues in | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
mental health. It needed to be raised. Am very pleased she did so. | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
We don't concentrate nearly enough on this and I'm come back to her on | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
that. The member from North Norfolk who grappled with these difficulties | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
and is so well regarded, referenced things he wants to see more off | :18:10. | :18:12. | |
since he left office. We will be doing that. To the honourable lady | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
for York and my Ron rabble lember for York Outer, there's a ldtter on | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
its way. It won't give the honourable lady quite the ahr | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
surances on the inquiry she wants but it moves matters on a bht | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
further. My honourable friends the member for Bracknell and Henley | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
raised important issue of mdntal health in the law and justice | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
system. Sometimes, again, a less regarded area but making thd | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
important point mental health issues matter there. A number of | :18:47. | :18:54. | |
colleagues, members for Somdrset, Plymouth, South Cambridgeshhre, | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
Ashley under lime and LEWIS raised the important issue of suichde which | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
I take extremely seriously `nd we haven't done nearly enough on | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
suicide. I talk about my ambition for that as I close. The parity of | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
esteem was mentioned as a concept. Colleagues wanted to know where it | :19:12. | :19:19. | |
was in the mandate. The new mandate will be released shortly. Mr | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
Speaker, this is an opposithon day debate. We have a motion and a vote. | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
Just as it is the right of the opposition to press the Govdrnment | :19:28. | :19:30. | |
and do more and criticise where it is due or not due, so it is the duty | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
of Government to explain wh`t it is doing and ask for the support of the | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
House for our response to the needs of mental health as my Right | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
Honourable Friend set out in his remarks. I don't want the mdssage of | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
this debate to be our procedure and our vote. I want the messagd of this | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
debate to be in the speeches we ve heard, in the words quoted from our | :19:51. | :19:53. | |
constituents and others, in the recognition our Parliament `nd its | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
members have got it in terms of mental health and that the programme | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
rest being made over a numbdr of years, and by successive Governments | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
is not going to stop but be accelerated. We will point to our | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
world leading IAPS programmd and the work of Richard and David Clarke in | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
relation to that. The inspiration in our local areas for our crisis care | :20:17. | :20:25. | |
work. The improvement in di`gnosis and treatment of dementia, our | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
determination to see the ?1.25 billion investments in children and | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
young people's services delhvered in a sea change of previously tnder | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
valued services. But I want more. Our ambition building upon `ll that | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
has been done to be recognised by providing the world's best lental | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
health services and I want ts to be really close by 2020. I want to see | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
the inevitability of suicidd challenged and rejected as we do | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
more to combat the scourge of sewer side. A campaign against loneliness | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
and isolation. And clubs around the country to bring more peopld in and | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
let no-one O'Go. I want to see a step change in perinatal urgent work | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
to improve those services. H want to see children's mental health whose | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
effects are not yet fully c`lculated to be protected by young people | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
themselves through their own use of new technology and ingenuitx, | :21:34. | :21:36. | |
assisted by teachers and mentor everywhere. I want the mothdr I | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
mentioned at the start of mx remarks to be reassured others like her will | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
know who to turn to quickly. I don't awant anyone suffering from mental | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
ill-health ever again to fedl like no-one's listening. So whether or | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
not you join my Right Honourable Friend and myself this afternoon, I | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
know each and every one of ts in this chamber shares that ambition. I | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
look forward to working with colleagues across the House to work | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
relentlessly. As many of th`t opinion say aye. The contrary no. | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
THE SPEAKER: Clear the lobbhes. Are you ready? The question on the | :22:19. | :23:23. | |
order paper, those who say `ye and those who say no. | :23:24. | :30:33. | |
Are we OK? Order, order! Thd ayes to the right 209. The noes to the left | :30:34. | :34:27. | |
290. The eyes to the right 209. The nose | :34:28. | :34:43. | |
to the left 290. The noes h`ve it, the noes have it. Unlock. Wd now | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
come to an immersion in the name of the Leader of the Opposition on | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
women and the economy. -- come to the motion. I call on Kate Green. | :34:56. | :35:02. | |
Thank you. I rise to move the motion on the order paper in my nale and | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
that is with my honourable `nd right Honourable friends. Mr Deputy | :35:08. | :35:15. | |
Speaker, at his party's anntal conference, the Prime Minister | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
nailed his colours to the m`st. He said, I am the dad of two d`ughters, | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
you cannot have true opporttnity without real equality. That is | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
right. That is why today Labour has called this debate, to put his | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
party's record under the microscope. To assess the extent to which the | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
Prime Minister's words are latched by the actions of his government, | :35:45. | :35:52. | |
and the actions of his Chancellor. Mr Deputy Speaker, it is a record | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
that is found wanting. Whether that is in relation to fiscal me`sures, | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
taxes and benefits, in relation to the Labour market and women's | :36:05. | :36:10. | |
employment rights and chancds, in relation to public spending on | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
services and infrastructure, in relation to women's safety, or in | :36:16. | :36:21. | |
relation to women's voice and influence, far from deliverhng the | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
security the Chancellor prolised would be at the heart of his | :36:26. | :36:31. | |
spending decisions, women, of all ages and from different backgrounds, | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
faith an insecure and worryhng future as a result of government | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
policy. -- face. I suppose we should not be surprised. After all, this is | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
the Prime Minister, who reg`rds equality impact assessment `s tick | :36:49. | :36:55. | |
box staff and bureaucratic nonsense. We all know, all too well, what | :36:56. | :37:03. | |
happens when you do not carry out full and proper equality impact | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
assessment. Just two weeks `go, the Chancellor rose to deliver his | :37:11. | :37:16. | |
Autumn Statement. His track record in power has been shameful. Since | :37:17. | :37:24. | |
2010, more than 80% of tax `nd benefits savings have been taken | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
from the purses of women. More than 80%. Is my honourable friend aware | :37:29. | :37:37. | |
that, according to the Unitdd Nations, on the current ratd of | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
progress, it will take Brit`in another 70 years to close the gender | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
pay gap? I think the Prime Minister's daughters may be sadly | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
disappointed. Does she agred with me that this is totally unacceptable? | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
My honourable friend is right. Neither she nor I have 70 ydars to | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
wait for it to be equalised. It is a point I wish to return to l`ter on | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
in the debate. Why didn't the last Labour government solve this | :38:10. | :38:10. | |
problem? We did better than the coalhtion or | :38:11. | :38:21. | |
this government. The speed of reduction under the Labour | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
governments in the last dec`de meant the gender pay gap came down by a | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
third, progress that has not been maintained under Conservative left | :38:32. | :38:36. | |
governments. -- Conservativd led governments. We knew, of cotrse | :38:37. | :38:43. | |
that the Chancellor had been forced to listen and would have to to back | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
down on the cuts to tax credits he announced in the summer that hit | :38:48. | :38:55. | |
women disproportionately hard. But we have to wonder, knowing 70% of | :38:56. | :38:58. | |
the savings to the Treasury from this policy would have come from | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
women, why he thought it was a good idea. I will give way. I th`nk her | :39:03. | :39:12. | |
for giving way. On that point, over 82% of cuts that the Chancellor | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
talked about, women bore thd brunt of that. Does she agree that George | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
Osborne is every woman's worst nightmare? I am not going to presume | :39:22. | :39:30. | |
to speak for Everywoman's attitude to the Chancellor but his policies | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
have been damaging for a substantial number of women. Of course H will | :39:35. | :39:43. | |
give way. Figures show around 6 % of women will benefit from the new | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
national living wage. Will she accept it was wrong for her party to | :39:47. | :39:53. | |
oppose the summer budget? Fhrst he is wrong to say my party opposed it. | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
We did not. We did say it would not be sufficient to compensate for the | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
cuts to tax credits and bendfits and secondly, he might like to know and | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
I will return to this point in my speech, analysis shows thosd who | :40:10. | :40:12. | |
benefit from the national lhving wage are not the same peopld as lose | :40:13. | :40:18. | |
out from cuts to tax credits and benefits. This kind of nonsdnse and | :40:19. | :40:23. | |
sleight of hand about figurds, does the party opposite no credit. They | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
should be prepared to come clean about who benefits from thehr | :40:29. | :40:35. | |
policies. The Chancellor in the Autumn Statement has been forced, | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
under pressure from our sidd of the house, to make changes to hhs plans. | :40:40. | :40:46. | |
But the cuts to tax credits are not abandoned, they have just bden | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
delayed. The same savings whll still be made elsewhere in the system and | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
women will still lose out. Women will be hit three times as hard as | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
men by the cuts in this year's summer budget and Autumn St`tement, | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
according to analysis commissioned by my right honourable friend, the | :41:08. | :41:14. | |
member for Normanton, by thd House of Commons library. That is three | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
times as hard in six short lonths, in just two spending announcements. | :41:20. | :41:25. | |
Because many of the Chancellor's policies that are inimical to the | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
interests of women remain vdry firmly in place. We'll be honourable | :41:30. | :41:38. | |
lady recognise the government's proposals to force companies to | :41:39. | :41:41. | |
publish details of salary and bonuses is a welcome step to reduce | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
the pay gap and something this government is introducing and hers | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
did not? I must correct him. It was a Labour government that left that | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
measure on the statute book. It then took a conservative led govdrnment | :41:58. | :42:03. | |
another five and a half years to put it into action and even now what has | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
been put into action is not sufficient. It does not provide for | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
a breakdown of grades and dhfferent job roles. It is a welcome leasure, | :42:14. | :42:21. | |
we are proud to have enacted it but I hope the government will go | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
further. She is absolutely right to raise the issue of gender ilpact on | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
the government's policies. She will be aware there have been huge | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
reductions in public servicds, and of course, the workforce in local | :42:37. | :42:44. | |
government is made up of 75$ women, 77% of the workforce in the NHS and | :42:45. | :42:51. | |
80% of the workforce in sochal care. These reductions have an impact on | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
the employment prospects of women in the public service. The public | :42:56. | :43:03. | |
services traditionally have had a better record in many respects in | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
relation to promotion of wolen and indeed in other groups with | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
protected characteristics. Ht is a matter of concern cuts to ptblic | :43:13. | :43:19. | |
sector spending will have an impact on women's employment, on women s | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
employment prospects, and otr part of the reason why we have sden | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
unemployment among women relain higher than that of men -- `re the | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
reason. Many of the Chancellor's policies that are harmful to the | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
interests of women are still sadly in place. The cuts and freeze to | :43:40. | :43:50. | |
child benefit, local housing credits, tapers and thresholds, a | :43:51. | :43:58. | |
disincentive for second earners in universal credit. Second earners in | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
households are often women. The benefit cap, the two child policy in | :44:02. | :44:11. | |
child tax credits, increased parent conditionality, and an alarling rise | :44:12. | :44:16. | |
in lone parent 's actions, ,- parent sanctions. I will give way. My | :44:17. | :44:32. | |
honourable friend is making a persuasive case. Very few pdople | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
know is family incomes like she does. Can I draw her back to local | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
government, and not just thd workforce, but those working in | :44:42. | :44:45. | |
services commission by local government, mainly care, whdre women | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
work and are low-paid? My honourable friend is right. Care is ond sector | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
in which low-paid women's jobs are concentrated, whether through direct | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
employment through public sdrvices or commission services from local | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
government. It is going to be helpful over time to see thd | :45:06. | :45:13. | |
national minimum wage, the living wage, increased for those workers | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
but if local authorities ard not funded to meet the costs of that | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
increase, we can expect to see pressures in the system and most | :45:24. | :45:26. | |
likely in the quality of care provided, which will impact on women | :45:27. | :45:29. | |
because women typically provide that family care. I will give wax. I am | :45:30. | :45:37. | |
grateful. Was she as concerned as a highly to hear the Secretarx of | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
State for Work and Pensions State on BBC on Sunday that people on | :45:43. | :45:46. | |
universal credit will not lose a penny and yet we know a lond parent | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
with one child working 20 hours a week on the lowest pay will lose | :45:52. | :45:59. | |
?2800 a year from next April? Yes my honourable friend is right `nd I | :46:00. | :46:02. | |
believe the Secretary of St`te has acknowledged what he said w`s not | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
entirely correct at the weekend As we have discussed lone parents, I | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
think the house will be intdrested to know the House of Commons library | :46:12. | :46:18. | |
says a lone parent with two children working 20 hours a week on the | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
national living wage will lose 2800 by the end of the parliament, a | :46:24. | :46:29. | |
substantial amount for a falily which by definition can onlx have | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
one earner, so care can be combined with employment responsibilhties. | :46:37. | :46:39. | |
The introduction of the nathonal living wage and free childc`re | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
places cannot compensate in hole for the cuts. The RAF said said it is | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
impossible and in any event, as I pointed out, the people who gain | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
from the increased minimum wage are not the same people who are losing | :46:56. | :46:59. | |
out. I am grateful. What do she say to | :47:00. | :47:09. | |
the fact that 53% of apprenticeship starts in 2014 were women, ` policy | :47:10. | :47:13. | |
the government is pushing? I will return to this point. The | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
honourable lady is right, btt we need to look and will look | :47:19. | :47:29. | |
shortly... We will see that the way in which those apprenticeshhps are | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
distributed between women and men, the sectors in which they work and | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
employment destinations thex achieve are not equal and sadly contribute | :47:39. | :47:44. | |
in the short and long run to the inequality women experience in the | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
labour market. Our right honourable friend I think is acknowledging | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
that. I hope when the minister responds to the debate will say | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
something about government strategy to address that. | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
It is not just women of working age losing out from government policy, | :48:03. | :48:09. | |
the older women have a situ`tion that is equally serious. Single | :48:10. | :48:12. | |
female pensioners lose most, according to be women's budget | :48:13. | :48:19. | |
group. Another points out in 20 7 the ?155 a week state pension will | :48:20. | :48:26. | |
be paid to only 22% of older women. The difficulty that women f`ce in | :48:27. | :48:33. | |
working part-time, or in not being able to fulfil the increased 35 | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
years of contributions requhrement puts them at further disadv`ntage. | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
Within are less likely to h`ve access to a good occupation`l | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
pension. She is making a powerful speech. The Prime Minister hn this | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
chamber declared himself to be a feminist, but that does not seem to | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
correspond with the party opposite's policies and just as he oncd forgot | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
his daughter in a pub, they seem to have forgotten about equality for | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
women! I am unable to descrhbe the policies of the government `s | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
pro-female, or indeed feminhst, but perhaps the minister will sdek to | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
defend his record. Women have seen a sharp increase in their state | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
pension age as a result of the 011 pensions act. Those women who have | :49:29. | :49:37. | |
seemed their pension increased have been hit hard. Particularly those | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
born between 1951 and 1953. Not only do they have to wait longer for a | :49:45. | :49:48. | |
pension, they are not eligible for a single tier pension in the same way | :49:49. | :49:57. | |
as a man on the same day will be. I am grateful. She will know the work | :49:58. | :50:04. | |
myself and my honourable frhend the member for Worsley and Ecclds have | :50:05. | :50:10. | |
done in raising this. On Saturday I was at Denton Morrisons with ladies, | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
part of a campaign group, who made the point to many constituents who | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
were not aware of the changds and acceleration in the state pdnsion | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
age, meaning these women, who are expecting to get their statd | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
pension, will be disappointdd. The point they were making is the | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
government's communications on this has been abysmal. My honour`ble | :50:35. | :50:41. | |
friend is right, I have met that campaign group. Our honourable | :50:42. | :50:48. | |
friend has a Westminster debate on this subject, pointing out the lack | :50:49. | :50:54. | |
of notice to these women, a point made at the time the legisl`tion was | :50:55. | :51:02. | |
passed in 2011. I will give way Since that debate, the formdr | :51:03. | :51:10. | |
Pensions Minister has admitted we made a bad decision over increases | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
in these ages. He maybe be dxcused his department had not been properly | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
briefed and went into crisis talks with the Prime Minister and | :51:20. | :51:23. | |
Chancellor to try to claw the billions back. Those women suffer | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
because of that mistake and departmental failure. We he`rd the | :51:27. | :51:34. | |
then Pensions Minister and other ministers assure us there would be | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
transitional protection for those women. We have seen no sign of that | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
protection and they are suffering as a result. Madam Deputy Speaker. We | :51:43. | :51:54. | |
already know that women are twice as likely as men to live in poverty. | :51:55. | :52:00. | |
Yet what we can see is this Chancellor has a blind spot when it | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
comes to gender, he is eithdr unaware or not interested in the | :52:06. | :52:15. | |
gendered nature of poverty. It is not the short-term policies, it is | :52:16. | :52:18. | |
about the long-term impact on our country's future. Women are more | :52:19. | :52:25. | |
likely to manage household budgets. They are more likely to be the main | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
carers of children. And poor mothers have poor children. So women's | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
continued economic disadvantage means more children growing up in | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
poverty with long-term damaging effects of those children and on our | :52:42. | :52:48. | |
future economic potential. Does she accept that does not discrilinate? | :52:49. | :52:53. | |
It is in the interests of every member of society that we rtn sound | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
public finances, which is the reason for many measures she descrhbed | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
earlier. Unless we reduced the deficit and get into the bl`ck, we | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
will leave every member of society, male or female, with a masshve debt. | :53:07. | :53:13. | |
We on this side agree about the importance of prudent managdment of | :53:14. | :53:17. | |
public finances. This is thd Chancellor who promised to dliminate | :53:18. | :53:20. | |
the deficit by the time of the last parliament. What he achieved was | :53:21. | :53:33. | |
what the then Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling suggested, which | :53:34. | :53:35. | |
was too half it. This is a Chancellor who presided over a rise | :53:36. | :53:37. | |
in public debt and a Chancellor who is substituting once again... You | :53:38. | :53:40. | |
would think we would be learning, private debt for public debt, so the | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
OBR forecast by the end of the parliament, household debt will be | :53:47. | :53:49. | |
back at recession levels. Something we should be alarmed about. | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
My memory is failing me. Wotld you remind me which Chancellor dnded | :53:55. | :54:03. | |
boom and bust? What I remind the honourable gentleman is two things. | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
The crash in 2008 was a global crash which began in the United States of | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
America. It was not caused by the spending plans and policies of the | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
then Labour government. Secondly, what I will also remind him of if it | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
was the actions taken by thd then Prime Minister and Chancellor which | :54:25. | :54:27. | |
rescued the economy at a tile when we could have seen the entire | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
financial system crashing into a hole, which would have left families | :54:32. | :54:37. | |
with no salaries, no incomes, no ability to pay mortgages, no | :54:38. | :54:40. | |
burning. I will come to the honourable gentleman now. Hd says | :54:41. | :54:46. | |
his memory is faulty. It was that Labour government which took the | :54:47. | :54:48. | |
economy through a desperately dangerous period at a time when the | :54:49. | :54:51. | |
present Prime Minister and Chancellor were saying it would be | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
best to do something and not to rescue those banks. Something which | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
would have caused absolute financial disaster for families. Whild I am on | :55:01. | :55:03. | |
the subject of reminding about the track record of the previous Labour | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
government and the previous Conservative opposition, of course I | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
regret. Anyone can see we should have regulated the banking system | :55:13. | :55:18. | |
more tightly. It was the prdsent Prime Minister and the presdnt | :55:19. | :55:20. | |
Chancellor of fixture who s`id Labour was being too restrictive in | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
its regulation of financial services sector. The history lesson H think | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
does not favour the honourable member's party. Hearing the | :55:32. | :55:35. | |
honourable lady talk about financial regulation with the Labour Party is | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
like hearing about how Herod should have been kinder to the first-born. | :55:41. | :55:47. | |
Her right honourable friend, the member for Don Caster failed. Did | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
the Labour Party borrowed too much, did it spend too much, and faced | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
with that international fin`ncial difficulty, Britain was in ` very | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
precarious place? Can I just remind everyone what the debate was about? | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
We are wondering 1 million liles away from the subject. The Shadow | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
Minister may want to answer that question. Is she chooses not to she | :56:13. | :56:20. | |
is perfectly entitled not to do so. -- if she chooses. In my | :56:21. | :56:28. | |
constituency, the investment we made in housing, hospitals, policing in | :56:29. | :56:33. | |
schools, benefited families and women. It grew the economy: it | :56:34. | :56:39. | |
created jobs, and it lifted 1 million children out of povdrty I | :56:40. | :56:45. | |
am proud of that record. Madam Deputy Speaker, the Chancellor's | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
gender blindness is not confined to his school decisions. Investment in | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
infrastructure announced in the summer budget and the Autumn | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
Statement are, of course, wdlcome. The amendment in the social | :57:00. | :57:07. | |
infrastructure that supports women to work, learn and care, is sadly | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
lacking. Where was the Labotr market strategy which helps women to | :57:11. | :57:13. | |
prosper and progress in the workplace? I recognise therd are | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
more women in work, not least because the increase in state | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
pension age and inward migr`tion means there are more women of | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
working age who must work. Women's unemployment remains higher than | :57:29. | :57:31. | |
prerecession levels. For wolen over the age of 52 7% above the 2008 | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
unemployment rate and the young women's trust says twice as many | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
young women as young men ard considered to be economically | :57:43. | :57:45. | |
inactive. I will give way to my honourable friend I think the case | :57:46. | :57:52. | |
that is being made, it is ironic when you hear contributions from the | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
Conservative benches. Inequ`lity is actually hitting our economx. Far | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
from Britain not being able to afford gender equality, the case she | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
is making is we cannot afford not to get this wrong. Absolutely. That is | :58:07. | :58:14. | |
right. Our economy is losing out by under participation in the Labour | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
market, underperforming in terms of earnings and therefore their ability | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
both to support families and contribute in the local economy and | :58:24. | :58:26. | |
underperforming in terms of the drain that that means on our public | :58:27. | :58:33. | |
spending, when they are not able to provide financial means to support | :58:34. | :58:36. | |
themselves and their familids. For women in work, pay remains ` | :58:37. | :58:43. | |
significant issue. Over half of the jobs growth for women since 201 has | :58:44. | :58:47. | |
been in low-paid sectors. In Scotland six out of ten jobs have | :58:48. | :58:52. | |
been created in low paid, more insecure, sectors over the period of | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
the majority SNP government. 78 are women work in low paid soci`l care | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
while 86 the centre workers in the so-called stem industries are much | :59:03. | :59:08. | |
better paid -- much better paid are men. Some women have been offered | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
jobs less than the minimum wage The overall gender pay gap stands at | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
19.2%, considerably higher than the European Union average and has been | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
falling more slowly than under the last Labour government and reflects | :59:26. | :59:31. | |
downward convergence between women's and men's wages, not that women s | :59:32. | :59:38. | |
wages are rising to close the gap. You have been very generous in | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
giving way. On the issue of women being paid less than minimul wage | :59:43. | :59:46. | |
from Isner also another factor in that the Government is making cuts | :59:47. | :59:51. | |
to HMR see which was stopped the enforcement of the minimum wage in | :59:52. | :59:58. | |
many sectors of the economy? -- which will stop. This underlies the | :59:59. | :00:06. | |
Government's economic stratdgy. Penny wise and pound foolish it is a | :00:07. | :00:12. | |
very good example of it. Thd honourable member is absolutely | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
right. We need to invest in our young children, our young adults, | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
young women going through school to study. This is what this Ch`ncellor | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
is doing. Because of investlent we have a record number of girls taking | :00:27. | :00:32. | |
A-levels in science and maths. 10,000 more stem A-level entries | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
with girls. That is absolutdly what we are doing. We must be ambitious | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
and aspirational for our next generation. The honourable lady is | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
right. Perhaps we can open some of that up in a moment or two when we | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
look at what is happening whth young people in their career desthnations. | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
Part-time and temporary worker exacerbated the gender pay gap. 74% | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
of those working part-time women. Some have been offered zero our | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
contracts. It is the distal portion in large -- disproportionatd number | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
of young women that means it is such an issue. It makes life worth and | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
not better for those women. There is no government strategy to address | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
those areas of the economy such as cleaning, retail, care or | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
hospitality, where there is a chronic or persistent low p`y in | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
which women are predominantly working. The gunmen publishdd its | :01:29. | :01:38. | |
action plan on women and eqtalities. -- the Government published its | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
action plan on women and thd economy. As the honourable lember | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
has noted, the plan containdd welcome words about increashng | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
participation in stem subjects and encouraging them to go into careers | :01:54. | :02:02. | |
and become entrepreneurs. The CBI reports that 93% of young pdople are | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
not getting access to adequ`te careers advice and girls ard still | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
too often pigeonholed into traditionally female career routes. | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
Can you give way? Thank you. The percentage of women in senior | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
management roles in the private sector is 19% in 2013. It r`nked the | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
UK in the bottom ten countrhes globally. Does my honourabld friend | :02:28. | :02:35. | |
agree this is completely unacceptable? It is not a rdcord to | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
be proud of. Worryingly, thd young women's trust says young wolen are | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
more likely than women over the age of 31 to think that many | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
traditionally male roles ard out of their reach. Just 15% of unhversity | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
places for computer science and engineering are taken by wolen | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
students will stop while, as the honourable lady noted, the lajority | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
of apprenticeships are taken up by women, two thirds of women | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
apprentices are in the five lowest paid industry sectors and, `fter | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
completing an apprenticeship, 1 % of women are out of work, comp`red with | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
only 6% of male apprentices. I will give way to the minister. Whth the | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
minister agree the ladies that today are starting apprenticeships with | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
women he went to university under her party in government, it was | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
their lack of careers advicd, their lack of engendering the ambhtion and | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
aspiration which may have rdsulted in some of the sadistic she raises? | :03:37. | :03:45. | |
The CBI were not asking abott the careers advice offered under a | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
Labour government. They werd asking about careers advice on offdr now. | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
The Government has scrapped the careers service which is decent | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
They are asking people to go online to get advice. Damn sure my | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
honourable friend is aware of the report under the Coalition | :04:01. | :04:08. | |
Government which showed the collapse of the careers service under the | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
Coalition Government. I hopd the minister will take more timd in her | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
speech to show what part of the current apprenticeship strategy is | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
stressing in agenda -- ineqtality. It wants to encourage more women to | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
become business owners and entrepreneurs. There has bedn a | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
significant increase in the number of self-employed women betwden 008 | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
and 2011. More than 80% of the newly self-employed women. That m`y not | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
always be by choice. Increase conditionality and lack of suitable | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
implement means self-employlent is an economic necessity for S`m and | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
yet the average income of a self-employed woman is just ?9, 00 | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
per annum, according to the women's budget group, compared with ?17 000 | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
per annum for a self-employdd man. Self-employment is not a rotte out | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
of poverty for those women. I will make some progress but I hope she | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
will speak in the debate. Overall, the Government strategy for women at | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
work is simply insufficient. That is not just bad for men. As my | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
honourable friend, the membdr for Chesterfield, noted, it is bad for | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
our economy. The Government's own course alteration, closing the | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
gender pay gap, published this year, takes women's productivity `nd | :05:34. | :05:41. | |
employment by equalising participation rates, it could add | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
10% to the size of the economy. Action is urgently needed. | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
Meanwhile, women are also sdeing their rights in the workplace | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
attacked. The introduction of tribunal fees means you can afford | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
the ?1200 to pursue an equal pay claim. Maternity discrimination | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
cases have nearly doubled while the number of cases going to trhbunal | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
has fallen to 80%. So much for the Government commitment to economic | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
equality. Cuts to spending on public services as we have noticed also hit | :06:13. | :06:20. | |
women hardest. There are 763 US Sure Start centres than in 2010. The care | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
sector has been affected badly by the cut in local council budgets. | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
The additional 3.5 billion lini Autumn Statement bells to compensate | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
for the drastic cuts which have already taken place. -- in the | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
Autumn Statement fails to compensate. It is women who will | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
lose out from a lack of paid for care, as they so often have to step | :06:44. | :06:51. | |
in to fill the gap. Terrifyhng for women having to flee domesthc | :06:52. | :06:59. | |
violence, there have been moves to protect women's two. At that women | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
are being turned away from refuges because there was not room for them. | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
Services were closed due to lack of funds. The title's short-term | :07:11. | :07:18. | |
proposal to fund domestic vholence services makes the funding | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
symbolically and literally the responsibility only of women. Madam | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
Deputy Speaker, two women a week are killed as a result of domestic | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
violence. That must be the responsibility of everyone hn | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
society. Why does all of thhs happen? Why are women hit the | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
hardest? It happens because we are not present where decisions are | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
taken. Our voices are not hdard 80% of stories in the media, about the | :07:47. | :07:57. | |
economy, are about men or qtote men. There has been an improvement but | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
the proportion of women in dxecutive positions on FTSE 100 boards remains | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
lamentably low. I will make some progress. As for the Governlent s | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
own track record, the women and equality minister 's own edtcation | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
Department management board contains just to women out of 12. It is clear | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
from these announcements and circumstances that the Government is | :08:25. | :08:32. | |
ignorant and deliberately t`rgeting women for the worse effects. That | :08:33. | :08:40. | |
makes a mockery of the Primd Minister's words, about his | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
commitment to gender equality. In conclusion, let me make a fdw | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
suggestions about what ministers could start to do to address the | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
inherent gender inequality that runs right through this government's | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
agenda. First, carry out a full cumulative impact assessment of all | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
government policies since 2010 to analyse the impact on women. Act now | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
to address any disproportionately damaging effects. Commit to | :09:10. | :09:16. | |
introducing and publishing immediately cumulative equality | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
impact assessment, right across government, and to remedial action | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
were ever policy is bound to be in a couple to equality as the L`bour | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
government in Wales is alre`dy committed to doing. Ensure that | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
women are at the heart of decision-making at every level. | :09:35. | :09:37. | |
Isn't it time that the Government published a fall, comprehensive | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
cross government gender equ`lity strategy that addresses the economic | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
and social discrimination and disadvantage that has becomd the | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
hallmark of this government? Madam Deputy Speaker, that is what the | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
opposition is calling for this afternoon and I commend our motion | :09:57. | :09:57. | |
to the house. The question is as on the order | :09:58. | :10:09. | |
paper. It is an enormous pldasure to respond to this debate on what is an | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
important area. I have to start what I want to say with a note of | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
sadness, and I direct back to the opposition spokesperson. Absolutely | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
nothing she said this afternoon not a word from her mouth, championed, | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
celebrated the achievements women make every day, even those that | :10:29. | :10:37. | |
start their own businesses, create jobs, generating the economhc | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
recovery we are seeing, she could not celebrate. She sees that as a | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
negative, which underlines how the party opposite see small businesses. | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
I will make progress. A vibrant economy where everyone can play | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
their part and this is at the heart of the government mission to govern | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
as one nation. As the Prime Minister said, you cannot have opportunity | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
without equality and the message goes the heart of what the | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
government wants to achieve for women. This year is the 40th | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
anniversary of the sex discrimination act and I am pleased | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
to say we have seen significant economic progress for women in those | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
years. Over the past five ydars we have made huge strides with more | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
women in work. Female emploxment has increased with 14.6 million women | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
now working. There are over a million small businesses with women | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
at the helm. We have helped to achieve the lowest gender p`y gap on | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
record and more than doubled women's representation on FTSE 100 board | :11:44. | :11:54. | |
since 2011. I am grateful. Does she consider it a success that women... | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
She mentioned about women and their own businesses, that they are likely | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
to have an average income of ?9 800 compared to self-employed mdn, who | :12:06. | :12:13. | |
have an average of 17,000? H likes to champion every woman who starts | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
her own business that pursuds her passion and creates employmdnt. | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
There are many obstacles th`t prevent women from starting their | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
businesses and growing them will stop those are obstacles we are | :12:28. | :12:30. | |
seeking to overcome and I whll come to that later in my comments. We | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
have a long way to go. We are by no means complacent in any way. There | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
is so much more we can do to make sure women play their part hn this | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
economy. This government wants to make sure all women can fulfil their | :12:48. | :12:54. | |
potential. Over 1.5 women in work say they would like to do more hours | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
than if they could -- if thdy could. If they could work one more hour a | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
week it would contribute to productivity. We cannot afford to | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
waste the talents of a single person, let alone half of otr | :13:11. | :13:18. | |
population. While these argtments are important, frankly, gender | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
equality is also just the rhght thing to do. I am grateful to the | :13:22. | :13:30. | |
minister for giving way. In the last government I commissioned, `long | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
with Jo Swinson, a report produced by a professor of Glasgow C`ledonian | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
University. What is the govdrnment doing with that? I will comd to that | :13:40. | :13:48. | |
later in my comments. I would like to join him in paying tribute to Jo | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
Swinson, who was my predecessor and did an excellent job. This | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
commitment to gender equality informs the difficult decishons we | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
have had to make to return the country to surplus and ensure we no | :14:05. | :14:12. | |
longer depend on debt. The reason we are in this position, despite the | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
mass amnesia that seems to have broken out, it is because of the | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
party opposite, whose financial mismanagement meant we had to take | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
difficult decisions, unpleasant decisions, to tackle... Those | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
difficult decisions to balance the books and live within our mdans We | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
know women still earn, own `nd retire with less than male | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
counterparts, but where do H start with this motion before us today? I | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
will have a sit down while H think about it. Thank you for allowing me | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
to intervene. Is the ministdr appalled like I am that womdn | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
claimants for J SA went up hn the last two years of the Labour | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
government, almost double the previous number of claimants and has | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
now reduced by 746,000 under us She makes an excellent point. Wd do not | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
take lessons about female elployment from the party opposite. In our | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
house when we grew up if it rained we used to say we blame the Tories. | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
I am no stranger to her polhtical strategy. She commenced her remarks | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
about celebrating the contrhbution of women and I would like to ask if | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
it pays tribute to women in our economy to bang on about thd last | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
government in the way she's doing? I'm sure she feels it is convenient | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
to forget about what happendd under the last Labour government. When it | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
rains we talk about fixing the roof before that happens, while the sun | :15:49. | :15:54. | |
is shining. I want to talk `bout the motion before us. The evidence is | :15:55. | :16:04. | |
deeply flawed. It is typical back of the fag packet stuff that wd have | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
sadly come to expect from the party opposite. They have made bizarre and | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
outdated assumptions about how households divide money. Thd | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
inference that lower fuel prices do not help women. The pink battle bus | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
may have run on something other than petrol but the rest of us fhll up in | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
a normal way. They have also assumed any savings immediately mean a | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
poorer service, which we know is not true. They made assumptions about | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
how households divide their money. We know it is not true that savings | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
mean a poorer service. What they don't understand is the public know | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
it also. I am grateful to the minister, but she is making | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
assertions when the academic research belies what she saxs. In | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
many households it is true women managed the household budget, that | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
it is not increasingly their income to manage. With the married couples' | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
tax break more money is put in the wallets of men and women ard | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
depending on men to fund thdm. On car ownership, the number of women | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
owning and driving cars is below that of men, which is why it matters | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
that benefits and tax poliches address what happens on how families | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
live their lives. She has m`de sweeping assumptions about the fact | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
child tax credits, child benefit, goes into the pockets of wolen. It | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
is outdated. Families work `s a unit and pool their income will stop it | :17:45. | :17:53. | |
is a sexist allegation. Would she agree that while the party opposite | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
may spend all their time re`ding or commissioning academic studhes, we | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
on this side of the house gdt on with delivering policies to the | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
betterment and strengthening of the economy, to the betterment of all? | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
An excellent point. Inherithng an economy riddled with dirt dhd not do | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
anything for the women in this country, and not tackling the | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
deficit would have been the real crime, and have placed an | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
unacceptable risk to the economy and people'slives. The alternathve would | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
be to risk the jobs and services women depend on. It would rhsk their | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
children's education, their security, and, for those of us who | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
want to insure everyone can fulfil their potential, these are not | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
acceptable risks. The minister is talking about competence on her | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
side. I quoted earlier a former Pensions Minister admitting a bad | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
decision that cost millions of women, born in the 50s, ?30 billion. | :18:58. | :19:05. | |
A mistake because the Pensions Minister was not properly briefed. | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
He admits he was not briefed. He has added on two years to the pdnsion | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
age of millions of women without realising. Does she really think she | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
can claim competence for a government that does things like | :19:18. | :19:24. | |
that? What she fails to recognise is in these pension changes, women who | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
have taken time out to raisd children will not now be penalised | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
under the system. She is behng a little of her. Thanks to thd | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
government we are able to increase support for childcare costs and | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
protect key government servhces The commitment to supporting wolen in | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
work is a priority, which is why the Prime Minister pledged to end the | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
gender pay gap within a gendration. There is no place for a pay gap in | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
society. That is why we comlitted to requiring employers to publhsh the | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
information on the difference between men and women's pay and | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
bonuses. We will shortly consult on the regulation needed to gender pay | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
reporting and I urge all employers to consider them carefully. We are | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
not asking... Thank you. Is one of the ways in which the gender gap | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
could be closed is addressing the issue of public procurement and | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
requiring anyone tendering for a government contract to have done an | :20:28. | :20:35. | |
equal pay audit? This is a conversation we have had many times, | :20:36. | :20:43. | |
but I would gently say her government had 13 years to bring | :20:44. | :20:51. | |
this in. We are not asking dmployers to do it on their own. We are trying | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
to bring employers with us. That is the right thing. We are going to be | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
providing extensive guidancd, case studies and toolkits. By working | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
with business and employees we will see results. We will extend | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
reporting requirements to the public sector. Labour had 13 years to do | :21:11. | :21:20. | |
this. They failed. On the point of equal pay audits, they are not | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
difficult to do. I did them before I came to this house, running them in | :21:25. | :21:39. | |
the government take steps now? We the government take steps | :21:40. | :21:39. | |
are requiring companies to publish are requiring companies to publish | :21:40. | :21:40. | |
their gender pay information. It will go a long way and further than | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
her party did in government. It is this government working with | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
businesses to make it a reality I have listened to the debate about | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
the gender pay gap. I am sure that the minister will join with me. The | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
gender pay gap is almost elhminated for women under 40. I want to | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
comment on what the honourable lady opposite said about audits `nd | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
public procurement. If we w`nt more small and medium enterprises to bid | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
for public contracts, they do not have the scale to do things like | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
this. You will eliminate thdm from bidding for any government | :22:29. | :22:35. | |
contracts. The honourable l`dy makes an excellent point. Record numbers | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
of small and medium enterprhses are gaining public contracts. Wd cannot | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
have our young women growing up in a country where they are paid less | :22:45. | :22:47. | |
because of gender rather th`n have good they are at their job. | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
Dash-macro good they are. One way of obtaining security is breakhng down | :22:55. | :22:57. | |
barriers that hold too many women back. We have ensured more than 20 | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
million employees can request flexible working, providing more | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
choice for working parents. We have introduced shared parental leave and | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
that is why we will extend shared parental leave and pay to | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
grandparents. This will support working parents with the cost of | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
childcare and help the 2 million grandparents, the unsung heroes | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
like my mum, who give up work, reduce hours or take time off to | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
help with childcare. At the same time nearly a quarter of wolen | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
between the ages of 50 and 64 are providing unpaid care for a relative | :23:33. | :23:41. | |
or friend. We have invested 1.6 million to help those carers who | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
wish to stay in work to bal`nce their different roles. Throtgh | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
flexible working and innovative technology there are nine phlots | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
exploring ways to help carers manage their paid work while looking after | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
their loved one. We know ond of the most important issues affecting | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
childcare. That is why we are childcare. That is why we are | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
investing over ?1 billion more each year. | :24:08. | :24:27. | |
This means the total governlent spend on childcare will increase | :24:28. | :24:35. | |
from ?5 billion in 2015 two sixths over 6 billion by 20 20. Th`nk you | :24:36. | :24:43. | |
to the Minister for giving way. Is the minister where that the funding | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
offer from the Government for the additional 15 hours has been | :24:50. | :24:57. | |
inadequate and, at best, confusing? There is a real risk that most | :24:58. | :25:05. | |
places will be underfunded `nd many childcare places may have to close | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
as a result, thus reducing the availability of suitable chhldcare. | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
We are raising the funding for this. I will not take any lessons from the | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
party opposite. I may be slhghtly older than many of them but I was a | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
mum putting two children through childcare underuse of the L`bour | :25:26. | :25:28. | |
government as I watched childcare prices become the most expensive in | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
Europe. I was one of those women who was working to pay my childcare | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
bill. Not only are there more women in work than ever before but we are | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
taking steps to ensure work always pays. Thank you. I thank thd | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
Minister for giving way. On the point of caring, this government has | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
a fine record in terms of stpporting women that work. Would the linister | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
welcomed me meetings that I have had with the DWP and other departments | :25:58. | :26:06. | |
who have responsibilities bdyond children? People can stay in work, | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
be more flexible in their work, and continue to support local | :26:12. | :26:14. | |
communities and local government by the work they do alongside being in | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
employment. She is absolutely right. These people make an incredhble | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
contribution to our economy and need to be supported in everything they | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
do. Not only are there more women in work than ever before, they are | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
taking steps to make sure that work always pays a national living wage | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
for some this will disproportionately benefit women. It | :26:37. | :26:44. | |
will reach over ?9 by 2020. We expect that 65% of the beneficiaries | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
will be women, making them financially better off. We will see | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
increases in the personal allowance which will lift people out of income | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
tax by 2018 and 60% of thesd will be women. This reform is again making | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
women financially better off. We also have more women than ever right | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
at the top of business. These women are fantastic role models. They are | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
inspiring others to follow hn their footsteps. Thanks to the business | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
led government backed appro`ch and the passion of business leaders like | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
Lord Davies, we have doubled the number of women on these bo`rds | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
since 2011. The minister is trumpeting the fact that wolen will | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
disproportionately benefit from the so-called higher living wagd. That | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
she not recognise the reason more women will benefit is because there | :27:35. | :27:42. | |
are more low-paid women? He could not have put it better. As H already | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
asked in a question myself, these women were educated and at the last | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
Labour government. Under our education reforms, these wolen will | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
be aspiring to higher paid work in future. When Labour left power, | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
there were more than 20 all male boards in our FTSE 100 comp`nies and | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
now we have none. The minister is being very generous allowing time. | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
On the point about women on boards, they are an nonexecutive directors. | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
Anyone who has sat on a board of directors, they know that ddcisions | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
are made by executive directors and not nonexecutive directors. They are | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
not all in nonexecutive dirdctor roles. We are criticising them. That | :28:28. | :28:35. | |
is negative. She is right. We would like to see more women coming up | :28:36. | :28:39. | |
through the executive pipelhne. We would like to see women that without | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
quotas, without tokenistic gestures who have worked their way up to be | :28:46. | :28:53. | |
there. That is why we are m`king the changes. Businesses are bendfiting | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
from their immense skills of the every women on these boards knows | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
they are there from merit. They were the best person from the job, | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
regardless of gender and thd men know it as well. We want to go | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
further. We are building on this through a new target of 33% theme | :29:12. | :29:18. | |
are represented in on these boards by 2010 -- 2020. Supporting new | :29:19. | :29:21. | |
women into executive positions that we develop that pipeline of female | :29:22. | :29:28. | |
talent. We have called for `n end to all female boards in the FTSE 2 0. | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
We want to inspire women evdrywhere, from the classroom into the | :29:34. | :29:36. | |
boardroom, and at every stage in between. Education is one of the | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
most fundamental ways of drhving lasting change and raising | :29:42. | :29:45. | |
aspirations. If we work to dnsure women's economic equality would | :29:46. | :29:48. | |
start with the youngest gendration. This is an area where having a | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
Secretary of State for Educ`tion who is also women -- Minister for women | :29:52. | :29:59. | |
is valuable. No one should feel a career is off limits becausd of | :30:00. | :30:09. | |
gender or ethnic background. We have made important strides. There are | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
more girls than ever taking physics and maths A-levels. There are 1 ,000 | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
more entries in maths and science in instances 2010. The opposithon | :30:20. | :30:22. | |
spokesman asked me about thd difference between men and women | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
entering apprenticeships in different sectors since 2008. The | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
number of women starting engineering and manufacturing in apprenticeships | :30:32. | :30:34. | |
have increased threefold. This is not a new problem. We will go | :30:35. | :30:44. | |
further. The science, technology and engineering workforce is vital to | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
the economy. The UK needs to recruit 83,000 engineers are weird that is a | :30:50. | :30:52. | |
year and they cannot all be blokes. The Government has set up the new | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
careers and enterprise comp`ny. We have heard people in this chamber | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
complaining about careers advisers. This is what this is about, to | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
inspire and inform young people about opportunities available to | :31:09. | :31:11. | |
them and to do this in parallel with business. I welcome the one,year | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
anniversary of the independdnt your life campaign, which aims to ensure | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
young people have maths and science skills which the economy nedds. It | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
was a great pleasure for me to visit the Ford motor company in D`genham, | :31:24. | :31:27. | |
the spiritual home of the fhght for gender pay equality and see your | :31:28. | :31:30. | |
life in action were a group of local schoolgirls have been invitdd to | :31:31. | :31:37. | |
race cars around the card tdst track and investigate how exciting a | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
career in stem can be. A strong economy where women are encouraged | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
to fulfil the ten shall also means the able to deliver the services | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
that society needs. We must make sure that everyone is given the | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
support they need. In this xear passed back spending review, the | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
Chancellor announced the Government will provide ?40 million for | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
domestic abuse services, including refuges between 2016 and 2020. | :32:03. | :32:08. | |
Prosecutions and convictions for domestic violence have risen to | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
their highest levels. Last weekend we launched a consultation on new | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
measures to better protect victims of stranger stalking and help that | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
are perpetrators. We'll so `nnounced an additional 3.85 million to | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
develop a new phase in the campaign to tackle teenage abuse within | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
relationships. This campaign has encouraged teenagers to rethink | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
their views of violence, controlling behaviour, and what consent means | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
within their relationships. This is helping to change attitudes which | :32:39. | :32:45. | |
can underpin violence against women and girls. The strategy will be | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
published shortly, which was set at how we will continue to support | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
victims of this app are to be used. I am grateful to the Ministdr for | :32:56. | :33:05. | |
giving way. -- Avenue horrid abuse. How is the welfare reform and work | :33:06. | :33:12. | |
Bill and cuts going to be hdlping disabled women? We are talkhng about | :33:13. | :33:19. | |
the Autumn Statement. The thmes were purged more money to go into -- the | :33:20. | :33:28. | |
Chancellor pledged more mondy to go into refuges and charities will | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
victims of domestic violencd. Bed spaces rose in 2013 to 3472 in 015. | :33:33. | :33:41. | |
These things are really important. The Government is committed to | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
making sure everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, age and | :33:47. | :33:49. | |
background, is able to fulfhl potential. This approach to equality | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
spans right across government. It helps women to fulfil their | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
potential. We must thank and acknowledge efforts of stakdholders, | :33:59. | :34:01. | |
charities and businesses, who are leading the charge and workhng with | :34:02. | :34:05. | |
the Government to finish thd fight for equality in our country. The | :34:06. | :34:16. | |
facts speak for themselves. Since 2010, more women are in work, more | :34:17. | :34:19. | |
women led businesses, more women on boards and our reforms to stpport | :34:20. | :34:22. | |
the lowest paid will disproportionately affect women | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
Fans are being made across dvery department to continue the dxtra | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
progress being made. -- funds. We will continue to drive this agenda | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
forwards. At the same time ht is important we take a moment to | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
recognise the great that wolen have achieved. Every day in my job I need | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
amazing women, from every w`lk of life. Scientists, teachers, CEOs, | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
mums, writers, all great role models. These women are our are our | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
mothers, our daughters, our friends, our colleagues. It is they who have | :34:56. | :35:02. | |
made this huge progress to date It is they that are breaking down the | :35:03. | :35:04. | |
barriers and they are achieving greater heights all the timd and | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
every day. My message today is this. Can we stop depicting women as | :35:11. | :35:14. | |
victims? People who are dond to rather than doing. Government and | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
opposition alike, it is our job to support them. It is our job to | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
encourage them. Above all, today and every day, we should also bd | :35:26. | :35:33. | |
celebrating them. Angela Cr`wley. Madam Deputy Speaker, on 9th of | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
November this year, women across the United Kingdom started workhng for | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
free while men continued earning. A day that should be talked about in | :35:45. | :35:51. | |
the history books. 45 years after the passing of the equal pax act, | :35:52. | :35:55. | |
then still earn two months lore wages than women. I welcome the | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
comments from the Prime Minhster. His ambition to end the gender pay | :36:00. | :36:08. | |
gap in a generation. The re`lity is unlawful maternity and pregnancy | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
dissemination is more common in Britain's are places than ever | :36:13. | :36:14. | |
before. 54,000 pregnant womdn and new mothers are forced out of a job | :36:15. | :36:21. | |
each year. Hundreds of thousands of women are employed on zero hours | :36:22. | :36:24. | |
contracts and other precarious forms of employment offering little or no | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
weight to offer guaranteed hours or job security. -- no way. Thhs would | :36:30. | :36:36. | |
be a barrier to female justhce and a charter for rogue employers. I | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
welcome the Government's vidw of this measure and I hope the | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
Government will take serious action on employment Tribunal fees. Thank | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
you for giving way. I was ctrious that the governments did not mention | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
Tribunal fees. Thus my honotrable friend agree with me that asking | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
women to pay ?1200 for a discrimination case is an ottrage? | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
That is why there is an 81% drop in sex dissemination cases in this | :37:07. | :37:12. | |
country. As I said previously, I hope the Government will take | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
serious action on tribunal fees We are -- they are acting as a barrier. | :37:17. | :37:28. | |
On the review of tribunal fdes which is under way, I understand the | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
report is with the minister at the moment, an alternative reference | :37:36. | :37:37. | |
allowed the abolition of trhbunal fees to be considered. I qudstioned | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
it last week. Do you agree with me this is a gaping hole in thd review | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
terms of reference? I agree with those measures. I hope the governor | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
will take serious action and consider the impact that trhbunal | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
fees are having on women in the workplace. -- the Government. Their | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
women's budget group says women stand to lose more and gain less. | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
Women in low-paid work, womdn with children and other caring | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
responsibilities and women who access services which have | :38:13. | :38:16. | |
successively been eroded in the name of posterity. In considering the | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
effects of economy on women, the SNP calls on the Government to recognise | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
the cuts that the Government spending is adverse and affdcting | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
women more deeply than men. Understand these measures c`n and | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
will drive women into a povdrty trap. Signs of economic recovery | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
hailed by the Chancellor have disproportionately been the benefit | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
of male workers. The SNP welcomes the decision by the Chancellor to | :38:46. | :38:48. | |
reverse tax credits. This mtst have been a tough decision for hhm but it | :38:49. | :38:54. | |
has meant that for constitudnts and members across these benches, they | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
do not have to make tough ddcisions, choosing between the basics and | :38:59. | :39:01. | |
necessities of life. This is essentially important for | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
constituents who are in low,paid employment and zero hours contracts. | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
These people are more often than not women. The immediate effect of | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
reversing his plans on tax credits has meant that working families have | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
less to worry about. The re`lity is there will be ?12 billion worth of | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
cuts in the UK Government spending review and this will ultimately | :39:23. | :39:24. | |
disproportionately affect women The effects of reversing pl`ns on | :39:25. | :39:35. | |
tax credit, they will continue to worry about struggling with bills, | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
and single mothers raising children should not have to worry about this. | :39:41. | :39:49. | |
I applaud the listening to those here and in the other place on tax | :39:50. | :39:57. | |
credits. We must consider the differences in employment trends by | :39:58. | :40:04. | |
gender. 69% of women are employed in the UK compared to 78.5% of men | :40:05. | :40:12. | |
There is a gender differencd. Of these women in work, we see 8.4 | :40:13. | :40:18. | |
million in full-time employdr and 6.2 million in part-time work. | :40:19. | :40:25. | |
Figures show the majority of men are in full-time employment, amounting | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
to a 42% of female workforcd in part-time employment compardd to | :40:32. | :40:41. | |
men. We find within are less likely than men to work as an ploy is, | :40:42. | :40:49. | |
rather... As employees rathdr than employers and they are less likely | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
to be self-employed. 32% of self-employed people were whthin. | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
Recent research by the IMF found women work and economies grow. | :41:03. | :41:04. | |
Economic growth is more dralatic when the gap between women `nd men's | :41:05. | :41:18. | |
and these current figures mdan that not closing the gender gap puts the | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
economy at a disadvantage. Figures showed in 2014 there were 1.1 | :41:24. | :41:31. | |
million small enterprises in the UK led by women. In October thhs year | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
it was reported 26% of directors were female, which is not good | :41:37. | :41:42. | |
enough. Women's participation should be safeguarded and encouragdd. The | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
gender pay gap must be addrdssed. The Chancellor's Autumn Statement | :41:49. | :41:51. | |
confirms his acknowledgement removing tax credits will not | :41:52. | :41:54. | |
automatically create this problem. I want to press the government to | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
change that. The proper way for economic recovery is to stilulate | :42:00. | :42:06. | |
the workforce. Essentially dnsuring the female workforce is protected, | :42:07. | :42:09. | |
not forcing people into deeper poverty and decimating soci`l | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
welfare. When it comes to c`rers, ?12 billion to be cut from the | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
welfare budget includes cardrs' welfare budget includes cardrs' | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
allowance, disability benefhts and another allowance. With bendfits | :42:23. | :42:29. | |
applying only to the first two children will mean hardship for | :42:30. | :42:38. | |
families. These benefits I have mentioned are most frequently | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
accessed by women. If we look at statistics for carers, 58% of carers | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
in the UK women. The figures rise to 60% when we consider those who care | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
more than 50 hours per week are women. Women make up 73% of those in | :42:54. | :43:00. | |
receipt of carers' allowancd for caring more than 35 hours and in | :43:01. | :43:07. | |
Scotland, there is estimated 75 ,000 unpaid carers, a huge section of | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
society. The work done by c`rers, people prepared to put asidd their | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
needs and look after a loved one must be recognised by all | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
governments. It is vital to society. It can take up most of the time | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
people commit to which they could otherwise be in full-time | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
employment. On top of caring, carers UK found carers themselves `re twice | :43:33. | :43:37. | |
as likely to suffer ill-health. These are not the people we should | :43:38. | :43:40. | |
punish with cuts to welfare budgets. We should be championing thd efforts | :43:41. | :43:48. | |
of carers. When we consider the billions of pounds the NHS saves | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
year on year, due to the contribution and diligence of unpaid | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
carers is time the government stood up and recognised the hard-working | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
carers. They contribute a m`ssive amount of the economy, a | :44:04. | :44:10. | |
contribution that represents a net saving to the health care btdget. | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
The practice promoted by thd Prime Minister under the concept of big | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
society. I believe it is not just for the government to consider the | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
removal of the carers' lifeline The Chancellor has again made it rate | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
deal of economic recovery. The benefits of this recovery h`ve been | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
exclusively for men. I have spoken in this House against the gdnder pay | :44:36. | :44:41. | |
gap. Where women take home 85p for every ?1 a man earns. This has a | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
serious economic impact on working women and on the economy. Pdrhaps we | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
are supposed to be pacified by the introduction of the living wage | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
which is not a living wage. As I have said, women are often on | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
zero-hours contracts and in part-time work and a slight increase | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
to their wage will not help women who cannot work as many hours as men | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
perhaps due to caring or chhld responsibilities. If we look at | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
those we are aiming to help it is almost exclusively those on higher | :45:17. | :45:19. | |
incomes. The Conservatives have cut income tax for all workers, most of | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
whom are men. Increases to some benefits and those with high savings | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
tend to be men. The beneficharies of the transferable tax allowance are | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
84% male and therefore we h`ve allowances for tax cuts largely for | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
men. The welfare budget and services mostly by women. These policies | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
consistently deliver more for men than women. As the IMF suggdsts an | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
increased gender gap restricts economic growth. I want to highlight | :45:54. | :46:00. | |
that women are most harmed by welfare cuts. The impact of Ulster | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
are too can be measured mostly on the loss in women's purses `nd | :46:04. | :46:11. | |
spending power relative to len. I leave the house with this thought. | :46:12. | :46:18. | |
The report on the women's btdget group stated by equalising len and | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
women's participation rates we could add more than 10% to the size of the | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
economy. Let us not simply pay lip service, let's deliver. It hs a | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
great pleasure to follow my colleague, a fellow member of the | :46:34. | :46:40. | |
Select Committee and I commdnd her on her measured tone. I feel I | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
should point out that the rdcovery cannot be said to be exclushvely | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
something that benefited men, because there can be nothing worse | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
for women than the situation the Conservatives led government faced | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
five years ago when our country faced economic crisis, spending more | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
money than we could afford does nobody any good. Women do not | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
benefit, neither do men. First and foremost we need a strong economy so | :47:11. | :47:17. | |
we can have a strong system of education, welfare, of all of those | :47:18. | :47:24. | |
services the Arab honourabld lady -- the honourable lady was talking | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
about. I think it is regrettable the start of the debate was in ` tone I | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
do not usually associate with the honourable Lady for Stratford and | :47:35. | :47:41. | |
Urmston, who have found to be a collaborative player in this place. | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
It is important on issues to do with women and equality, we look for | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
long-term change. And by definition that can only be developed over the | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
lifetime of many different governments of many different | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
complexions. The benefit of this economic turnaround has cle`rly been | :48:01. | :48:03. | |
something that will benefit women and the continued measures through | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
the Autumn Statement are as important to women as they `re to | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
men, because without this strong economy, the Autumn Statement could | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
not have put in place some of the biggest real term rises in the state | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
pension in 15 years, the largest investment in Friel childcare - | :48:24. | :48:30. | |
free childcare, and extra money going into the NHS, the verx service | :48:31. | :48:33. | |
many members have mentioned in their contributions. The biggest | :48:34. | :48:40. | |
house-building programme since the 1970s will benefit all of us and | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
these are all measures that have been put in place because wd have a | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
stronger economy that will lake these sorts of investments for the | :48:48. | :48:54. | |
long-term. There have been policies that have benefited women around the | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
national living wage, cuts hn income tax, and increases in child care. I | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
would like to focus on two `reas where there might be common ground | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
across the chamber. The first is that I believe that women in Britain | :49:11. | :49:16. | |
are still disproportionatelx dependent on benefits to supplement | :49:17. | :49:20. | |
their income, because there is a prevalence of low wage part,time | :49:21. | :49:24. | |
jobs among women, which means women received more income from the state | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
in terms of benefit and support than men. They are more likely to be in | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
low-income jobs and more reliant on state funded housing and in receipt | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
of income related benefits. I hope members agree it is a good thing | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
this government has a strong enough economy to put in place somd | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
measures to start to allevi`te those problems women face. More childcare | :49:49. | :49:51. | |
means more women are able to get more work. I will just make more | :49:52. | :49:59. | |
progress. New options around parental leave and the right to | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
request flexible working for the first time of the things th`t can | :50:04. | :50:07. | |
give more women access to hhgher quality jobs and the sorts of | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
economic opportunities that might give them, for the first tile, an | :50:13. | :50:16. | |
equal right to economic equal right to economic | :50:17. | :50:18. | |
independence, a Wright met have had for many years. Thank you. H agree | :50:19. | :50:28. | |
with the tone of the right honourable lady's contributhon she | :50:29. | :50:38. | |
made, she played a massive role in developing policies for womdn in the | :50:39. | :50:40. | |
last government for which wd respect. Doesn't she worry `bout | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
women who are lone parents, and the significant drop of income they face | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
without much protection? I understand the point she makes and I | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
am saying if we can give thd opportunities to women in this | :50:56. | :50:58. | |
country today to forge their own economic independence, and what I | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
was hearing from the opposition from bench was how we could conthnue | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
state dependence, something I would not endorse. I think many shngle | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
parents I meet in my constituency and around the country have embraced | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
the programmes the Department for Work and Pensions have put hn place, | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
voluntary programmes to help them get back into work, because they | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
understand the importance of financial independence for | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
themselves and being role models for their children. The second `rea | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
where I hope there is consensus across the house is the importance | :51:32. | :51:38. | |
of addressing the issue of dducation performance. An issue the epuality | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
and human rights commission brought up in their fairer Britain report. | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
They said, the education performance of girls and young women dods not | :51:48. | :51:50. | |
translate into rewards in the workplace. Quite simply, more girls | :51:51. | :51:58. | |
get good GCSEs and degrees than boys, yet women make up 34% of | :51:59. | :52:04. | |
managers. In construction the figure is as low as 12%. I applaud the | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
ministers on the front bench for their focus on some subjects. It is | :52:11. | :52:17. | |
important more women are involved in maths and science, but a lack of | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
progress into senior positions runs deeper and deeper than choices made | :52:23. | :52:32. | |
14. Let's take the law. 60% of undergraduate law students `re | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
women. More than 50% of trahnee lawyers are women, yet one hn four | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
partners in city firms are women. Those people leading one of the most | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
important services in our country leaving out some of the most highly | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
qualified individuals to do the job, which cannot be in the best | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
interests of the country. Wd have more women in work than ever before. | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
What more can we do to turn that presence in the workplace into an | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
opportunity for long-term economic independence, by reducing ddpendence | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
on welfare and making sure their qualifications from school `re | :53:11. | :53:14. | |
recognised. I welcome this debate because I believe women havd a huge | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
amount to contribute to our society. I will try to make five closing | :53:20. | :53:26. | |
points briefly. Because the public sector equality duty requirds every | :53:27. | :53:29. | |
benefited to advance equality of opportunity for women. In the | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
development of policy and the work they do. There are five things I | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
would like to try to ask thd minister to reply to. Firstly, | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
changing the law is not enotgh when it comes to forcing a culture change | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
in society. If we are to get more women contributing in the w`y we | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
want them to in the workplace, we have to insure more men takd up | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
parental leave, flexible working practices, to ensure women who at | :53:59. | :54:06. | |
the moment, only 90% -- 19% of women can vary their hours in the | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
workplace. I know this is a point the minister has looked at closely | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
and I look forward to perhaps a few words in response to know what more | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
is being done to ensure bushnesses are changing their prep this, so | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
that at the moment 40% of mdn choose not to take any time off at the | :54:26. | :54:30. | |
birth of a child, which needs to change. In terms of increashng | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
female management, representation in management, we are not seeing | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
sufficient women coming through to senior positions of managemdnt in | :54:42. | :54:47. | |
the country, just 9% of FTSD 10 executive directors are womdn. Five | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
female CEOs out of 100. Perhaps we should adopt an approach, doubling | :54:53. | :55:00. | |
the number of executive poshtions in three years. In terms of chhld and | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
elder care, my honourable friend from Eastleigh made the point about | :55:05. | :55:10. | |
the importance of having elder care. One in for over 50s cares for | :55:11. | :55:16. | |
relatives. Surely it is timd government acts on giving stpport to | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
those individuals caring for older individuals as they do for support | :55:21. | :55:27. | |
of younger members of the f`mily. Fourth, women returning to the | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
workplace can face a skills crisis. We need to make sure there `re | :55:34. | :55:45. | |
programmes in place to reskhll. We are undergoing a silent revolution | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
in the workplace when it coles to the participation of women. The work | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
is far from complete. I think there has been a piecemeal approach to | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
programmes put together, good programmes, but do they fit | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
together? Is there room for a review of how policies work to effdct a | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
change the workplace? If we need more sticks rather than carrots | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
that they are brought out of the cupboard and use sooner rather | :56:12. | :56:12. | |
later. Subtitles will resume at 23:00 | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
on 'Wednesday In Parliament'. | :56:17. | :56:27. |