Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Health Select Committee report on children’s and adolescents’ mental health services, said:

“This report exposes the glaring gap between the Government’s rhetoric on mental health and the reality for vulnerable young people and their families.

“Mental health remains the poor relation of the NHS and children’s mental health even more so. That is a national disgrace and simply cannot be allowed to continue.

“Mental health services have got worse and worse on this Government’s watch and are now at breaking point. We need an urgent plan to increase the number of specialist beds available so that young people no longer have to travel hundreds of miles from home, separated from their families, to get the care they need.

“The next Labour Government will give people the right to counselling on the NHS. Under David Cameron, appointment waiting times are spiralling as he cuts the funding for mental health services faster than the rest of the NHS. It is another reason why he isn’t trusted with the NHS.”