Male Suicide
Debate between Liz Twist and Ged Killen(6 years, 4 months ago)
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Ged Killen
I hope that is the case and I think that, certainly, younger men are more likely to talk about their feelings than the older generation. Although there has been a strong downward trend in suicide rates in Scotland, in 2016 there was an 8% increase. Hopefully, that will go back down, but the issue still needs to be addressed, which is why it is important to have debates such as this.
Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. He talked about the Samaritans research, which showed, in summary, that less well-off men are ten times more likely to die by suicide than more well-off men. Does he agree that it is important that the Government try to tackle the problem through a suicide prevention strategy and through identifying specific ways of helping to address the rate of male suicides?
Ged Killen
My hon. Friend is absolutely right and I hope that the Minister will touch on that. I note that suicide is treated as a health matter.