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Mental health is an emerging health policy priority globally. The emphasis on closing the treatment gap in psychiatric services is now being complemented by an increasing focus on prevention and health promotion. The purpose of this paper is to describe the programmes and delivery of public mental health in England led by Public Health England (PHE), an arms-length body of the Department of Health and Social Care.

This technical paper outlines the general approach PHE has taken in delivering national work in public mental health and describes several key areas of work: children and young people, suicide prevention, workplace and workforce, strategic engagement with stakeholders, data and information and evidence synthesis.

A description of the various programmes and guidance documents that PHE have produced are described and referenced, which form a substantial body of work in public mental health.

The outputs from PHE may assist in informing the approach to public mental health that other government agencies could consider adopting. The resources described and signposted within this technical paper are publicly available for readers.

England is one of a small group of countries that have a track record in delivering public mental health at a national level. This paper gives a unique and detailed insight into this work.

The European Commission green paper Improving the Mental Health of the Population, published in October 2005, is essentially a public mental health strategy for the European Union. In this short article Jude Stansfield outlines the main elements of the strategy and discusses its relevance and implications both for the European Union as a whole and for policy and practice in England and the other individual member states. While the green paper is in many ways welcome in that it will raise the profile of public mental health at national and international government level, it has a number of flaws ‐ not least its primary focus on mental illness and mental illness services.

This article suggests some dilemmas in producing local mental health promotion strategies, as experienced by a mental health promotion specialist in England. It argues that, because of the misconceptions and misunderstandings associated with mental health and mental health promotion (MHP), some groundwork is needed to communicate a common and clear understanding. The author explains how she has communicated MHP among organisations in her locality. This includes exploring definitions of mental health and its relationship to mental illness, the rationale and effectiveness of promoting mental health and the use of a framework to plan or assess mental health promotion.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a national framework for leadership and workforce development in public mental health, published by Public Health England in 2015.

It has been developed with national partners and the local public health workforce, responding to local need and national policy. It aims to build the capacity and capability of leaders and a workforce that is confident, competent and committed to: promoting good mental health across the population, preventing mental illness and suicide, and improving the quality and length of life of people living with mental illness.

The framework outlines six ambitions for change and suggests the core principles and competencies needed in the workforce, and in leaders, to make that change happen, alongside practical actions.

A call to action approach is used to gain commitment from strategic partners and key organisations. Planners and practitioners are encouraged to use the framework to inform the commissioning and delivery of workforce development.

This is the first time a national framework for workforce development in public mental health has been published and as such it sets direction for national and local bodies and provides a practical approach to inform and influence action.

The important series of mechanical charging systems known generally as Indicators, have never been fully described, either from the historical or structural standpoint. Papers describing one or other of the individual varieties have been published from time to time during the period of thirty‐six years they have been in use, but except the partial notices of a select few published by Mr. F. J. Burgoyne and myself, nothing of a comprehensive or accurate nature has ever appeared. Before proceeding to describe each separate invention in its order, it may be well to enquire briefly into the reasons for the origin of a device which has called forth not a little ingenuity and inventive talent. When libraries were first established under the provisions of the various Acts of Parliament, two things happened as a matter of course in every district: a building, suitable or otherwise, was provided; and, the readers in a town increased in number to an enormous and unprecedented extent. Straitened means generally led to the provision of a cramped and inconvenient building, in which the space set apart for books was often ridiculously inadequate; with the result that lofty shelves were the rule, which secured economy of storage at the expense of rapidity of service. Previous experience in mechanics' institutes, or similar libraries, was found by the new librarian a useless criterion for public library needs, and especially as a guide to the multitude of readers and the variety of their demands. Delays in service occurred continually and the poor librarian was often abashed or offended at the freely expressed scepticism with which the public received his reports of books being out. From these factors was evolved the idea of the indicator, which by and by took practical shape as a machine for saving the legs of the librarian and his assistants from frequent and fruitless climbs to high shelves, and enabling readers to satisfy themselves that books were actually in use. The original indicators were intended only for showing, by means of numbers, the novels which were out or in, but since then a considerable number of libraries have applied them to all classes.