MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee are set to embark on a wide-ranging inquiry into rural mental health, it has been announced today.

Farming and other agriculture-related professions are known to face particular mental health challenges, with higher-than-average rates of depression and suicide. Improving the overall quality of mental health provision has been an increasing priority for the Government and the NHS in recent years.

The Chair of the EFRA Committee, Neil Parish MP, said:

“I’m pleased we’re starting this vital work. It’s important we talk openly about these issues and the help that is available. Mental health matters to us all. But for some people working in rural communities there are special factors that are often hidden in a world that sometimes feels like it is driven by those living in towns and cities.

“I’m a farmer myself and I know how people in our communities can sometimes suffer from isolation. That’s not to mention how insecure incomes, volatile weather and many other issues can be real stress factors.

“We hope to look into all of these subjects and more – then make recommendations about how the government can improve mental health provision in rural communities.

“I encourage everyone with a take on this subject – whether professional or personal – to take part in our inquiry. The ways to let us know your views are set out below.

Ministers have been accused of failing jobless young people, after falling far short of a promise to recruit 30,000 new apprentices to the civil service.

A senior Conservative said the government had not made achieving the pledge “a priority” – and criticised an attempt to blame the embarrassing shortfall on Covid-19.

In fact, the target was set four years ago – to ensure that Whitehall “leads by example” – and only 16,155 apprentices had been recruited by the time of the lockdown in March.

It follows a wider failure to sign up 3 million apprentices across the economy between 2017 and 2020, with only around 2.2 million recruited.

Almost a third of councils in England have failed a new government test of whether they are building enough new homes for local people.

New analysis reveals that Conservative councils were the worst culprits, with 35 per cent having failed ministers’ “housing delivery test” – including housing secretary’s James Brokenshire own local authority. 

Many Labour councils also failed to build enough homes, with 29 per cent not meeting targets, as did 33 per cent of those under no overall control. Four of the 12 Liberal Democrat-controlled councils (33 per cent) also fell short.

The figures are the first to show how many councils have failed the government’s housing delivery test, which was introduced last year.

The results are likely to fuel concerns that cash-strapped councils are struggling to cope with growing demand for new housing. 

While 219 councils met their target, 107 did not, with their combined shortfall totalling almost 64,000 homes – equating to a 30 per cent shortfall across the 107 councils.

Claims that rough sleeping is falling in England should not be trusted until the government has explained how an emergency funding scheme for the worst-affected areas might have skewed the latest figures, the chair of the UK statistics Authority (UKSA) has said.

Sir David Norgrove’s comments are the latest development in a row over the apparent 2% fall in rough sleeping in England in 2018, which ministers said was a sign the government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) was tackling the homelessness crisis.

In a significant intervention, Norgrove said the official figures for 2018 should not be used to make claims about rough sleeping in England until the government addresses concerns that some councils that received RSI funding had deliberately underreported the scale of the crisis in their area.

The government has stood down an army of 6,000 civil servants who had been preparing for a no-deal Brexit, at an estimated cost of £1.5bn.

The civil servants who had been seconded from elsewhere will now return to their normal duties, but there is no clear role for an estimated 4,500 new recruits after article 50 was extended until Halloween.

More than 16,000 civil servants in total have been working on Brexit.

The Labour party’s Hilary Benn said it was a “costly price” to pay for Theresa May’s belligerent insistence of keeping a no-deal on the table.

“It was important to plan for all contingencies, but this is the huge cost of the prime minister repeatedly saying: ‘My deal or no deal’ when she knew that leaving without a deal was not in the national interest. This is one example of how Brexit is proving to be very costly for our country,” said Benn, chair of the influential Brexit select committee.

The Cabinet Office made the decision to reverse the no-deal plans at a meeting on Thursday morning.

The modern-day challenges facing Britain’s farming families need urgent recognition backed up by a robust system of support, a rural health and well-being report has concluded.

The report by the University of Lincoln and rural economic consultants Rose Regeneration highlighted concerns including mental health, long working hours and rural isolation.

It also found farming families were increasingly worried by changing weather patterns, uncertain global markets and volatile commodity prices.

Wide-ranging changes in government policies for agriculture due to Brexit will add to these pressures – requiring many farm businesses to rethink the way they operate, added the Worshipful Company of Farmers-commissioned report.

Recommendations

• Establish a national programme to promote well-being among farming families and rural communities
• Provide support group workers with more help to cope with extra demands
• Collate evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of support groups
• Improve networking between support groups and other service providers
• Promote the work of support networks more effectively with government, statutory funders and charities

Ministers have delayed signing off on the first half of spending for High Speed 2 over concerns about the project’s spiralling costs, The Telegraph can disclose.

A formal “notice to proceed” on the major construction works for the first phase of the project has been put back six months until December – suggesting the government-owned firm behind the scheme will miss its target begin building its tunnels, viaducts and bridges later this year.

The order, which would have unlocked up to £27 billion for the first phase of the line, was due to be issued in June.

But HS2 Ltd is struggling to keep costs contained within the overall budget of £56 billion, meaning ministers will not allow the firm to enter agreements with contractors to begin construction based on the current design.

A Whitehall source said the delay came after Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary made “very clear to HS2” that they must stick to the budget.

The source insisted the line was “crucial”  to providing the transport capacity the country needs. But the delay, which comes amid mounting calls for the scheme to be scrapped, could leave it vulnerable to cancellation by Theresa May’s successor as Tory leader – or even a Labour Government, in the event that the Conservatives lose a general election in the meantime.

The government has failed for the sixth time to hit its own deadline to publish details of care system reforms for adults with disabilities and the elderly, because of the Brexit gridlock wracking the Commons.

Charities claimed lives were being put at risk by minsters’ “dithering and delays” and warned vulnerable people denied care, such as those with learning disabilities, were at increased “risk of abuse and neglect”.

Health secretary Matt Hancock told MPs in January that he “intends [to publish] before April” the social care green paper containing the government’s plans to make care safer and financially sustainable.

On Friday the Department of Health and Social Care told the The Independent it had no plans to publish the document before Monday 1 April.

Age UK said this was now the sixth time ministers’ assurances have fallen flat since the originally scheduled publication date of summer 2017 was missed.

Where Carillion starts others will follow. In a previous era we had no proper regard for social value in the awarding of contracts and this is what happens when we industrialise local service provision. This story tells us:

Directors of the company, that employs 45,000 people in the UK, have told the BBC the firm has “a mountain to climb” to prevent it collapsing under the weight of its nearly £650m in debt. 

A plan to swap the majority of that debt for new shares requires the support of more than 50% of the shareholders and the company’s biggest shareholder – US hedge fund Coltrane which owns 27% – is currently dead set against the plan. 

Since many small shareholders don’t vote – even in a crisis like this – the support of Coltrane is seen as crucial in getting the deal through. 

The board’s plan would see current shareholders awarded 5% of the company – with the rest going to the creditors.

Theresa May’s 10-year plan for the NHS lacks both the staffing and funding to succeed, Labour has said.

The PM has promised the publication of the plan on Monday will lead to “world class” care for patients in England.

Pledges on maternity care, mental health, elderly support and earlier detection and prevention of diseases will be included in the plan.

But shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said Mrs May was just trying to “clear up a mess that she has made”.

Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Ashworth said: “The funding isn’t sufficient and the staffing isn’t there.”

He added the NHS “doesn’t need 10 more years of the Tories, it needs a Labour government”.

However, Mrs May said that, coupled with the extra money announced last summer, her plan secured the future of the NHS.

The budget is due to rise by £20bn a year above inflation by 2023, though a detailed explanation of where that money will come from has not yet been provided.