Barbara Keeley MP,
Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health, commenting on the Government’s Mental
Health Workforce plan, said:

“Being able to recruit thousands of new mental health staff hinges on the
money being there to pay for them. Yet, this Tory Government expects mental
health and acute trusts to foot more than half the bill themselves. 

“Asking trusts to
find savings of £744 million over the next four years when services have
already been cut to the bone shows just how out of touch this Tory Government
is. These plans simply do not add up.”

Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health, commenting on Health
Education England’s Mental Health Workforce Strategy, said: 

“Once again this Tory Government is
promising only jam tomorrow, when what is needed is action
today to tackle the staffing crisis in mental health. The workforce plan
provides no real answers on how these new posts will be funded or how
recruitment issues will be overcome. And it offers little hope to those working
in the sector faced with mounting workloads, low pay and poor morale.

“Time and again the Tories have been warned that severe staffing
shortages are affecting patient care. Only this month the Care Quality
Commission highlighted staffing levels, in particular the cuts to mental health
nurses, as a contributing factor to 40 per cent of mental health services now
failing on safety grounds. 

“A Labour Government will provide the investment needed to recruit
and train staff with the right skills to deliver the mental health
services patients need and deserve. We will legislate for safe staffing,
reinstate nurse bursaries, lift the one per cent pay cap for NHS staff
and ring-fence mental health funding to make sure it reaches
the frontline.”

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Housing,
responding to the Government announcement of an independent review of building
regulations and fire safety, said:

“It has taken more than six weeks
since the Grenfell Tower fire for the Government to release test results of
just 82 of the 4000 tower blocks around the country. Landlords still can’t get
other types of cladding tested and Government ministers still can’t say how
many high-rise blocks are unsafe. 

“The
Government’s testing programme is confused and too slow.

“The
long-awaited review of buildings regulations and fire safety is welcome but
long overdue, as Ministers promised this four years ago after the last
fatal high-rise fires. 

“The
Government must also now expand the testing programme, publish results in
full so that residents and landlords know whether or not their buildings are
safe and stand by their earlier promise to help fund the costs of any
necessary work.”

Ends 

Keir
Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, responding to
Philip Hammond’s comments that the UK will seek a Brexit transitional deal for
up to three years, said:

“Labour
has been calling on the Government to commit to appropriate transitional
arrangements for a long time. If jobs and the economy are to come first, there
can be no threat of a cliff-edge for businesses after we leave the European
Union.

“The
Chancellor now appears to accept this. However, in light of the clear divisions
this week within the Cabinet, I hope the Chancellor was not merely speaking in
a personal capacity.

“I
also hope that this is the final burial of the flawed proposition that ‘no
deal’ is a viable option.”

Millions of children
across England are at risk of going hungry over the summer holidays, official
figures suggest.

The worst affected
will be the over 1.1 million children who are eligible for and claiming a free
school meal, who will miss out over the holidays.

Millions more could be
at risk, as government figures show that 30 per cent of children (nearly 4
million) across England are living in poverty, whose families may not be able
to afford food.

New analysis from the
Trussell Trust shows that there is an increase in the number of food packages
being given to families with children over the summer, showing the extent of
holiday hunger across the country.

Moreover, an answer to
a Written Question tabled by Angela Rayner MP shows that the Department for
Education “has made no assessment of the number of children who are at risk of
experiencing hunger during school summer holidays in 2017.”

Angela Rayner MP,
Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said:

“It is a national
disgrace that millions of children across the country are at risk of going
hungry this summer.

“The Government has
admitted it has no plans to assist children who are facing hunger during the
school holidays.

“The Conservatives are
failing in their duty of care to children in poverty, whose numbers are
increasing to Dickensian levels under Tory austerity.

“With the IFS forecasting that child poverty will
rise to 5 million by 2022, Labour is demanding that the Government brings
forward a new strategy to tackle child poverty.