Oral Answers to Questions

Liz Twist Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I do agree. That is why the long-term plan signalled the importance of mental health and the parity of which my hon. Friend speaks. It is also why, as the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), has said, additional funding is being targeted at mental health—the extra £2.3 billion a year from 2024—signalling this Government’s commitment to mental health, as he will have seen with the announcement on mental health ambulances this week.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

T10. Suicide rates in England are as high now as they were 20 years ago, yet the written ministerial statement today simply says that a strategy will be published later this year. Saving deaths by suicide cannot wait. When exactly will the suicide prevention strategy be produced?

[Steve Barclay]

What we have signalled, and I agree with the hon. Member on this, is the importance of the suicide prevention plan. It is something my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid), highlighted. I am keen to work with him and Members across the House on that. I set out in the written ministerial statement today not a specific date, but our commitment to a bespoke plan, and I am very happy to work with her and other Members on that.