No excuse for letting down young people with mental health problems - Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb has called on the Government to make sure money to help young people with mental health problems is spent effectively and on time. The Government has outlined how £143m, which the former health minister secured, is going to be spent on improving children's mental health services in England this year.

The money is part of a £1.25bn package unveiled in the budget in March. But this first tranche of funding falls well short of the £250m a year which was originally expected.

Norman said:

"Mental health services have not been given equal priority and equal investment with physical health in the NHS. Services for children and young people have been badly neglected.

"In Government, Liberal Democrats made important steps to rectify that woeful discrepancy and I am very proud of the progress we made. Now I want to make sure that we continue to move forwards, not backwards.

"I will be closely monitoring the Government's work in this area to make sure the money is spent - and spent effectively. The Government should commit to make up this shortfall in funding next year and be ambitious in using this money to transform services.

"There are few things more distressing to see than a young person whose childhood has been scarred because they didn't get the support they needed. There can be no excuse for letting down any young person with a mental health problem".