Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 18 July (HL1279) and in the light of the recent report by NHS Digital concerning social media pressure and mental health, whether they will now conduct that research.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Institute for Health Research and the Department’s Policy Research Programme have no current plans to commission research into the possible mental and psychological impact on children of using Twitter and Facebook.

In their report, the Mental Health Taskforce recommended that the United Kingdom should aspire to be a world leader in the development and application of new mental health research. The Taskforce asked specifically that the Department, working with relevant partners, should publish a report by February 2017 setting out a ten year strategy for mental health research. The final ten-year strategy is planned for publication in February 2017 and will identify future needs in mental health research. This will include a specific focus on the mental health of children and young people.