Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Health and Children his plans to see through the implementation of the A Vision for Change reform plan for mental health services; and when he hopes to have the plan fully implemented. [10970/11]

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 130: To ask the Minister for Health and Children his plans to establish a dedicated executive position within the Health Service Executive responsible for implementing A Vision for Change; and if this position will be led by a director for mental health services who has executive powers, an implementation budget and responsibility to report publicly on progress. [10971/11]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 129 and 130 together.

The Government has prioritised the reform of the mental health service in line with 'A Vision for Change'. It contains some 200 recommendations to be implemented over a 7 to 10 year timeframe. As implementation of the recommendations is primarily the responsibility of the Health Service Executive (HSE), the HSE appointed an Assistant National Director as the national lead for mental health to ensure the delivery of mental health services in line with legislation and Government policy.

The Government is also committed to ring-fencing €35 million annually from within the health budget for mental health. Implementation of 'A Vision for Change' is monitored by an independent monitoring group and its report of progress for 2010, which will be published, is scheduled to be submitted to me in the near future.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the percentage of health spending that goes to mental health services and if he intends to increase this over the course of the Governments term. [10972/11]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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In 2010, almost 7% of the Health Service Executive Budget was spent on specialist mental health services. Approximately 90% of public mental health services are provided at primary care level and expenditure on these services is not captured in this percentage. The Programme for Government makes a number of commitments in relation to mental health including increasing the spend in this area by ring-fencing €35 million annually from within the health budget to develop community mental health teams and services.