Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support his Department is providing to fund mental health services for military personnel on active military duty; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence is absolutely committed to looking after the mental health of our Armed Forces personnel, and through the Defence budget we fund a range of military medical staff and facilities to provide community-based healthcare in line with national best practice. This includes the ability to deploy medical staff on major operations such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the UK, we have 16 permanent military Departments of Community Mental Health, which are located to be convenient for major centres of military population, and which support the provision of healthcare that is available through GPs in Service primary care facilities. In-patient care, when necessary, is provided in dedicated psychiatric units through a central contract with an external provider.