Labour's Stephen Timms was speaking after a group of MPs including himself which make up the Education Select Committee published a report which found the care system and health services are routinely failing to identify the mental health problems of young people in the care system.
It also found children in care were four times more likely to suffer mental health problems than their peers.
Children leaving care in the UK are also five times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers and are more likely to enter the criminal justice system.
The report wants the Government to:
Address the lack of reliable data about mental health
Fund mental health surveys on a five-yearly basis
Allow care leavers to access Care and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) up until the age of 25
Invest in better understanding the challenges that young people face while living in and after leaving the care system
Stephen Timms told Premier: "Almost half of children in care have got a diagnosable mental health disorder.
"The incidents of mental health conditions amongst looked-after children is four times higher than the average amongst young people across the board, so it's a big problem."
One of the Committee's recommendations is that children in care should be able to access mental health provisions even if they do not have a permanent care placement. Currently they cannot.
Mr Timms told Premier one testimony the Committee received: "We heard from a 16-year-old girl who hadn't been able to get any support at all for over two-and-a-half years because she'd moved thirteen times during that period, and every time she asked for help she was told 'well let's wait until things have settled down a bit' - and they never did settle down."
The Government will respond to the findings and recommendations of the Education Select Committee's report within the next month.
Listen to Premier's Antony Bushfield speak to Stephen Timms here:
