Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that men make use of mental health services when they need them; and if he will make a statement.

We have committed to achieving parity of esteem for mental and physical health and improving access to mental health services for all people. We are implementing the first waiting times for mental health services to ensure more people have access to care when they need it and we have increased access to talking therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.

We know that men can sometimes be a hard to reach group for some mental health issues such as reducing the risk of suicide and reducing stigma and encouraging men to seek help for their mental health problems.

We continue to provide financial support to the Time to Change programme which aims to reduce the stigma around mental health and we provide financial support to the National Suicide Prevention Alliance, which involves organisations from across Government, industry and the community, voluntary and charitable sectors to support delivery of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. Men are highlighted as a high risk group within the National Strategy for whom our suicide prevention activities should be prioritised.