Ministers don't know what effect their cuts are having on people with mental health problems

Ministers have been unable to provide answers to key questions

Ministers said no data was held on some key metrics (Getty)

There are large gaps in the Government’s understanding of the effect its cuts are having on people with mental health problems, a worrying new investigation has shown.

Ministers have admitted they do not have a full record of which specialist mental health services have closed under their watch – and that they are unsure of the effect of key social security cuts on people with mental health problems.

The holes in the Government’s knowledge came to light after an investigation by Labour’s shadow mental health minister Luciana Berger, who submitted a series of parliamentary questions on the topic.

She was stunned when ministers were unable to provide basic data about the effects on their policies.

The Government was unable to say how many people with mental health problems had lost out from the closure of the Independent Living Fund last year, which helped disabled and sick people to live more independent lives.

DWP minister Justin Tomlinson said the information requested was “not held by the Department for Work and Pensions and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost”.

Ministers at relevant government departments were also unable to say how many specialist inpatient services for older adult mental health patients had closed since David Cameron came to power, and how many consultant psychiatrist posts were vacant in the NHS.

They were also unable to put a figure on how many doctors, nurses, or midwives specialising in perinatal mental health care were in post and how many GP practices had specialist mental health training.

Labour's shadow minister for mental health Luciana Berger uncovered the gaps (PA)

“This is yet further shocking evidence of the gap between what Tory Ministers say about mental health and what they actually do,” she said.

“The Prime Minister promised to improve transparency and accountability in mental health, yet his Government is not even collecting basic data. It is absolutely appalling that Ministers have no idea how many people with mental health problems have been affected by their decision to close the Independent Living Fund. How can ministers claim to be focussing on mental health when they don’t have an accurate picture of what is actually happening on the ground?

“These findings cast further doubt over the Tory Government’s ability to deliver what they have promised and make mental health the real priority it deserves to be.”

Minister for Mental Health Alistair Burt said the Government was working on improving its mental health datasets and that it would publish a five-year plan for improvement by the end of the year.

"I have been working on this issue for some time and agree that there is further to go on mental health data as part of making the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world. We have made big improvements, publishing more statistics than ever before — such as recovery rates and waiting times for psychological therapies,” he said.

"We have brought in the first ever waiting times for mental health, setting the NHS challenging targets to drive improvements, and increased mental health funding to £11.7 billion.

"Last Autumn we launched the first national survey of children and young people's mental health since 2004 and will publish a five year plan for mental health data by the end of this year — as recommended by NHS England's Independent Mental Health Taskforce in February.”