The government has warned of a widening regional divide in mental health services.

Louis Appleby, the mental health tsar, said the mental health budget for England had increased by 22 per cent over the past four years, but some of the money had been spent by local managers on developing the wrong services.

Professor Appleby said: "There is a difference in the pattern of spending between the north and south ... and the gap is widening. Previous spending - rather than the amount allocated or the true need of the population - remains the chief determinant of current spending."