Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of wealth inequality on levels of suicide.

People living in the most deprived areas of England face a higher risk of suicide. Between 2020 and 2024, the age-standardised suicide rate for people aged 25 to 44 years old in the most deprived 10% of areas in England was 14.9 per 100,000 people, compared with 10.6 per 100,000 in the least deprived 10% of areas.

The Government is committed to delivering the five-year cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, which sets out over 100 actions aimed at saving lives through early intervention, prevention initiatives, and better support for anyone who may reach crisis point.

The strategy recognises that nobody should be left out of suicide prevention efforts. This includes responding to the needs of marginalised communities and addressing inequalities in access to effective suicide prevention interventions, as well as listening to individuals and being responsive to their needs.

While the overall framework remains the same, the strategy was designed to be iterative, and we continue to consider where further action can be taken most effectively to reduce the number of lives lost to suicide.