Having lived through a global pandemic, and faced with the anxieties of steep rises in the cost of basic goods and services, it is more important than ever that we are able to have open conversations about mental health.

Several of my constituents here in Torridge and West Devon have written to me, or approached me at advice surgeries, enquiring about the resources available to rural communities such as ours. It is disappointing, for example, that the excellent new NHS Mental Health Support Team in Schools (MHST) service which launched last year, does not yet extend to Torridge. I hope that will change soon.

As a supporter, founding trustee, and now patron, of a local mental health charity in Tavistock, I know that rural mental health provision has always presented particular difficulties. I am often asked by desperate families to help in individual cases and I take a keen interest in the issue; it was the subject of one of the first speeches I made in the House of Commons and, since my election to Parliament in 2005, I have regularly met local health organisations, such as the Devon Partnership Trust (which provides adult mental health services in Devon), and charities to understand better the issues facing some of the most vulnerable of my constituents, taken up individual cases where my help is needed, and pressed for better services to our communities. I have also strongly supported reform by means of the new Mental Health Bill now going through parliament, to reflect needs better, and voted to increase spending on mental health care.

I was, therefore, encouraged to learn that the Government has now committed to investing another £150 million in NHS mental health services up to April 2025. This will support new local projects, including, importantly, improvements to the emergency mental health facilities at North Devon District Hospital. Elsewhere in Devon, I understand we will shortly see upgrades to the Glenbourne Unit in Plymouth, a new mental health assessment unit in Torbay, and expansions to the crisis cafe in Exeter.

More broadly, the Government’s total mental health expenditure will increase in the coming financial year to 8.9% of total recurrent NHS expenditure, and I will be monitoring developments to ensure that Torridge and West Devon is not left behind as the Government carries out its National Mental Health Plan.

I would encourage anyone who is experiencing difficulties to contact some of the dedicated local services and charities such as the NHS’s Talkworks, Clarity Counselling Service and Devon Mind:

https://www.talkworks.dpt.nhs.uk/

http://www.claritynorthdevon.org.uk/

https://www.devonmind.com/

Nationally, mental health provision is gradually achieving the prominence it deserves, but I shall continue to press for better support and services for children and adults in our villages and market towns.