Government needs to hear from mental health sector before funding talking therapies

The government will not fund the roll-out of talking therapies without a “clamour” for them from the mental health sector, the policy’s architect said today.

Labour peer Lord Richard Layard told the NHS Confederation conference in Birmingham that he and the National Institute for Mental Health in England were lobbying hard for government funding for talking therapies but ministers were under pressure to fund other, more high-profile health policies.

He added: “There really has to be a clamour from people like you. This will go to the bottom of the pile unless there’s more noise.”

Talking therapies are currently being piloted in Newham, east London, and Doncaster.