Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement the six priorities of the Roadmap for Mental Health Research in Europe.

Ben Gummer

In their report, published on 15 February, 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 also recommended that mental health research should follow the Roadmap for Mental Health Research in Europe, published in September 2015.

The Taskforce asked specifically that the Department, working with relevant partners, should publish a report by February 2017 setting out a 10 year strategy for mental health research. Departmental officials have already met with the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the mental health research charity MQ, and other charities to re-establish arrangements for a more determined approach to co-ordination of mental health research. The next meeting is planned to take place in early April, and developing the 10-year strategy will be a key item on the agenda.