The minister's comments to the Health and Social Care Committee followed news that the percentage of Government spending on mental health is falling this year.

Streeting said: ‘Mental health spending is increasing in terms of real terms spending for the coming year. The proportion has decreased by 0.07%'.

When questioned what this decrease was worth, Streeting said: ‘It's probably worth £100-200m but it's got to be seen in the context of the £26bn the chancellor allocated to health and social care.

‘We are delivering the mental health standard through the ICBs. So in terms of the investment in services, people should start to feel improvement in mental health services, as well as improvement across the rest of the nation.'

Streeting said he hoped to see the proportion of mental health spend increase over the course of the Parliament but added this was subject to Treasury approval.

When asked why waiting times targets have also been removed for mental health, Streeting said: ‘Over the course of this Parliament, the NHS has been overloaded with targets.'