Eating Disorders

The important point is that, in recent years, there have been massive increases funding for the NHS in general and in funding for mental health services. The issue is about examining how the funding is used to establish whether it is being used as effectively as possible to provide the personal services that we want—for example, the individualised and tailored services for people with eating disorders. My hon. Friend also mentioned counselling. We made a manifesto commitment to increase the number of counselling services, because there are not enough of them. In 2001, we published guidelines on treatment choice in psychological therapies and counselling, which covered eating disorders, among a range of other conditions. In 2004, we published guidance called ““Organising and Delivering Psychological Therapies”” to help local services to understand best practice and how to organise local services to support access. Last year, we also started our demonstration sites in Doncaster and Newham to examine how we could provide psychological therapies for people with mild to moderate depression. Some of those initiatives will tackle the very real points that my hon. Friend made about low self-esteem and lack of confidence. We want to increase support so that we can reach people as early as possible. We all agree that it is important to achieve early access and to ensure proper in-patient support, community support and general access to psychological therapies, because we can then provide treatment quickly. The Government fund several voluntary sector organisations in the field, including Weight Concern and ““beat””, and we are funding a three-year pathways to recovery project, which is about providing a buddy network of people who have had eating disorders. At the ““beat”” reception, I met some people who are very much involved in showing what has happened to them. It is so important to encourage people to share their experiences. We have done many things already, and we can do many more, to ensure that society takes on the challenge and that people work together to prevent more tragedies and blighted lives. Sitting suspended until half-past Two o’clock.