There have been a number of news stories in recent weeks about the spending - or lack of it - on mental health services across the country.

Last month it was claimed that clinical commissioning groups - responsible for how health money is allocated - spend much less on treatments and care for mental health problems than they do in other areas, despite the fact that dealing with such issues - including anxiety and stress - takes up a lot of the health service's time and resources.

And last week an investigation by the Health Service Journal revealed that some mental health professionals believed that cuts in government funding were leaving NHS mental health services "running dangerously close to collapse".

Thank heavens, then, for services such as Hive, based in Shipley, which has managed to secure almost £200,000 in Lottery funding which will enable it to launch a new scheme supporting people experiencing mental health issues.

Although no replacement for proper funding of the NHS, schemes such as this have a major role to play in improving mental well-being and ensuring that sufferers continue to live active and useful lives in their communities.

According to Hive, around 43,000 people in Bradford are affected by depression or anxiety, and more than 10,000 people claim incapacity benefit because of mental health problems. This latter figure represents 3.5 per cent of the local population, compared to a national average of 1.7 per cent, which shows the extent of the problem.

Hive's project and success in gaining funding is to be lauded. But if the problem is so high, perhaps efforts should be made to bring more NHS money to the district to tackle it at the highest levels.