Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Steve Webb (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 16 May 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Mental Health Services

Question: On Friday, the Department of Health produced a press release headed, ““End of the ‘Prozac nation’—more counselling, more therapy””. It trumpeted a ““ground-breaking initiative””, ““a major new programme””. What we get is a couple of pilot schemes, while in Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and other places around the country that we have heard about, front-line mental health services are being cut. Is that not another case of the Department of Health being out of touch with what is happening on the ground?

Answer: I am disappointed by the sneering attitude that the hon. Gentleman is taking towards an initiative that has been welcomed by all the mental health charities and by mental health service users, who know the importance of psychological therapies. They know that we need to build up the case for saying that psychological therapies can be a very good alternative to drug therapies. We have always been clear in every White Paper and in our manifesto commitments that we would start a gradual programme of introducing psychological therapies. We need to show—which is why we have set up demonstration sites—the benefits of the approach not just to the individual, but to the local community. The programme is a good way of doing that, and I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman’s attitude goes against everything in which we have been supported by service users and mental health charities.

Secondary information