Less than one per cent of local authorities’ public health budget is spent preventing mental health problems, a damning report has revealed.

According to data obtained by mental health charity Mind, 13 local authorities spent nothing at all on mental health, despite the fact they were in charge of improving mental health in their regions.

“Our research shows that the current spend on public mental health initiatives is negligible. This can’t continue,” said Paul Farmer, Mind’s Chief Executive.

“Prevention is always better than cure and ignoring the problem simply doesn’t make sense. Investment could stop people who aren’t unwell developing mental health problems in the future.”

The Government’s budget for local authorities’ public health expenditure in 2016-17 totalled £3.32 million, the report said.

Of this, £664,000 – around 20 per cent – was spent on sexual health services, while £111,000, around 3 per cent, was spent on preventing obesity in adults and children.

Meanwhile, the proportion of the public health budget spent on mental health stood at 0.9 per cent, down from 1.4 per cent in 2013-14.

In a statement, the charity said: “While local authorities spend millions of pounds on physical health programmes, Mind’s findings show that most areas of the country spend close to nothing on preventing mental health problems.”

According to the charity, mental health problems are the biggest cause of burden of disease in the UK and are responsible for up to 28 per cent of the total burden of health problems, estimated to cost the UK £70 billion to £100 billion a year.