World Suicide Prevention Day

Chris Bloore Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Westminster Hall

[Liz Twist]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. I congratulate those families—“congratulate” does not seem the right word, but they are doing such amazing work in her community and it is really important to mention. My hon. Friend will be pleased to hear that part of the work plan for the APPG relates to the link between suicide and domestic abuse in its various forms. I look forward to working with her on that issue.

I mentioned 3 Dads Walking, who do absolutely fantastic work. Changes are being made to the relationships, sex and health education curriculum this year to pick up on that work and ensure that children are able to discuss suicide in a safe and age-appropriate way.

Most working adults spend a large part of their day at work, so employers clearly have a role to play. Last year, the British Standards Institution published BS 30480, the first formal standard for workplace suicide prevention. I was pleased to work on it with the BSI alongside employers, trade unions and suicide prevention experts. That guidance has now been downloaded over 13,500 times.

However, despite the immense amount of work being done by charities, campaigners and so many others, we have not yet managed to change the narrative completely. I know that I risk sounding like a broken record in this House on the issue, but while the overall figures stubbornly refuse to come down, I will continue to be a broken record. We need to bring the numbers down. As the World Health Organisation says, changing the narrative needs systemic change. As the Mental Health Foundation has argued for years, we need early intervention so that people receive support before their situation becomes acute.

[Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)]

I join other hon. Members in congratulating my hon. Friend on securing the debate and on her lifetime of support for this cause. She makes such a valid point about changing the narrative and the stigma around suicide. This Government have made an incredible announcement of £343 million for walk-in mental health services. We are asking people to talk about how they are feeling and about how bad their mental health is, but they need those walk-in centres so that they can get treatment at the point that they feel suicidal. Will my hon. Friend join me in calling on my local integrated care board to ensure that Redditch, which has the highest rate of poor mental health in Worcestershire, gets the mental health walk-in centre that it so deserves?

[Liz Twist]

I am not sure I know enough about my hon. Friend’s local area to tell his local ICB what to do, but I am sure he does, and I am sure he is making the case to his local ICB for walk-in centres in his area.

The new mental health hubs and emergency centres that were announced over the summer will be a vital step forward, as my hon. Friend says, in providing community-based support through capital funding. I hope that that will be followed by the revenue funding to provide the staff and resources to deliver consistent care, and I hope that the Minister can provide a bit more detail on the revenue question; I welcome her to her new post and am glad that she is here to answer the debate. The national suicide prevention strategy has just passed its halfway point, which makes this the ideal moment to assess what is working and where we need to do more. A great many actions have arisen from the strategy, which I commend, but sadly the numbers have not shifted.

For men, who make up 75% of those who die by suicide, how can we address their specific concerns? Can the Minister say what actions will be taken to revise the strategy so that it can achieve its goal of reducing suicides? Can she also say what she will do to ensure that mental health has parity of esteem with physical health, which was the subject of another Westminster Hall debate that I secured not long ago? Will she join me and other Members in thanking all the third sector organisations and individuals who do so much to change the narrative, and recognise their importance in preventing suicide? I hope that she will continue to work closely with me and the APPG to ensure that these strategies deliver the systemic change that we desperately need.

On World Suicide Prevention Day, we reflect on what we must do to make a real difference. We can achieve that by ending the silence, funding the services and treating mental health with the urgency that it demands. That is how we will finally change the narrative, and that is how we will save lives.