Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria he uses to assess the effectiveness of the Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Data, evidence, and engagement with experts informed the actions that sit within the Suicide Prevention Strategy’s action plan. Government departments and other organisations responsible for delivering suicide prevention activity are accountable for the delivery of these actions to ensure progress is made against the ambitions set out in the strategy.

The Department will continue to review emerging evidence and data, to ensure current actions remain suitable and to develop iterative actions, where required, to drive further progress. The Department has regular meetings with the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group to aid the monitoring and delivery of the strategy.