Promise to increase mental health spend is being broken, says MP

A promise to increase the amount of money spent on treating mental health problems this year has not been kept according to a Labour MP.

Through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, shadow public health minister Luciana Berger found 50 of 130 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England are planning to reduce the proportion of their budget they spend on mental health in 2015/16.

Ms Berger has pointed to parliamentary questions in which the government indicated CCGs spending on mental health should increase by at least as much as their overall allocations.

She said: ‘Ministers talk about parity of esteem between physical and mental health services all the time but they are not translating their rhetoric into reality.

‘While the government fails to take the urgent action required to support our struggling mental health services, some of the most vulnerable patients are left suffering without the help and support they need.’

In response a Department of Health spokesperson said: ‘We do not recognise these figures – NHS England has shown mental health spending has increased by £0.4 billion this year.

‘Mental health is a priority for this government and to say otherwise ignores the fact we have given mental and physical health conditions equal priority in law.'