Steve Brine spoke on the subject of mental health in a short Commons debate marking ten years of the South Downs National Park.
The MP for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffiths, was leading the end of day Adjournment Debate on the subject to mark the milestone.
Steve, who as Public Health Minister signed an accord between National Parks England and Public Health England to support joint action on improving physical and mental health through our national parks, said using the space and peace of our national parks as part of the social prescribing by GPs do was really important.
Praising the strong collaboration that exists between South Downs National Park and Public Health England around mental support he said, "There is a wealth of evidence on the benefits of open space for not only physical health, but mental health. The South Downs national park’s most important days may just lie ahead of it."
Andrew Griffiths replied, "I thank my hon. Friend for making that point, as a fellow representative of a constituency that contains part of the national park and as someone with personal experience in the space of healthcare. We have probably never needed those green spaces more than now to protect so many people’s mental health."
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