MPs in Yorkshire and Humberside call on Health Secretary to fund Childline

Wednesday, 30 May 2018 07:00

MPs in Yorkshire and Humberside have supported the NSPCC’s calls for the government to increase its funding for Childline.

The 16 MPs from the region have signed an open letter to the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, backing the child protection charity’s Are You There? campaign.

A total of 130 MPs and peers have signed the open letter after the helpline said it saw a rise in demand from children struggling with suicidal thoughts.

The MPs and the NSPCC are asking that a slice of a £300 million pledge set out in the recently-published Government green paper Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision be used to fund the service.

The letter to the health minister read: “Services like the NSPCC’s Childline are now on the front line of mental health support for young people.

“Last year one in three Childline counselling sessions were about mental health and emotional wellbeing. The majority of these took place outside school hours – many in the middle of the night.”

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