Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve mental health support for men to reduce levels of male suicide in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.

The National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights men, and especially middle-aged and young men, as a group at high risk of suicide, and in January 2019, we published the first cross-Government suicide prevention workplan. It includes sections on tailoring prevention approaches towards reducing suicide risk in high-risk groups such as men.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing £57 million in suicide prevention. This will see investment in all areas of the country by 2023/24 to support local suicide prevention plans and establish suicide bereavement support services. We have worked with NHS England to ensure that local areas test approaches to reaching and engaging men.

The Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Sustainability and Transformation Partnership has received £300,000 in 2019/20 and £300,000 in 2020/21 for suicide prevention.