Emma Yeomans rightly highlights the scandal of cuts by the Coalition to Children and Young People mental health services.

But in the same week Labour committed to reverse this neglect when Ed Miliband proposed a radical improvement in mental health provision with more emphasis on prevention, early intervention and better support – particularly for children and young people.

Under the Coalition we have seen a growing number of young people being placed in adult wards, and many sent hundreds of miles for hospital care as a result of bed shortages – a shocking reversal of the previous Labour Government’s policy of not placing children and young people on adult mental health wards.

A range of prevention and early intervention services have been stripped back in recent years including in psychosis services and support for Sure Start services.

In 2012 Ed Miliband commissioned Stephen O’Brien, chairman of Barts Health NHS Trust, together with an independent mental health taskforce to devise a strategic plan for mental health. This proposes a package of priorities and measures to improve mental health services, with greater emphasis on better support, prevention and early intervention.

The report highlights that just 6% of the mental health budget is spent on children and young people by the Coalition, even though three quarters of adult mental illness begins before the age of 18.

Labour will expand talking therapies and reduce current waiting times for accessing these.

Supported by partnership working between schools, the NHS and local councils, teachers will be trained so they can identify and refer children and young people with mental health problems to appropriate support and services.

This has already been successfully rolled out in Wales, but this government has not supported this in England.

Labour is committed to reversing the damage done to child and adolescent mental health services under this Government. This is just one of the Labour policies that will tackle the challenges faced by too many young people.

Catherine Wilson
Labour councillor candidate for Regency