Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to promote the implementation of the suicide prevention frameworks developed by Health Education England and the Royal College of Psychiatrists National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.

Health Education England (HEE) published the suicide and self-harm prevention competency frameworks for children and young people, adults, and public health in October 2018. HEE is reviewing existing suicide training provision in relation to the competency frameworks, to inform the development of a compendium of training resource for the workforce and potential commissioning of future training.

HEE is hosting a roundtable event in 2019, which I will be attending, with a wide range of services including health, public health and other emergency services to map out their training needs in relation to the competency frameworks, and is working with MindEd to produce a children and young persons’ module that will build on and reference the competency framework in relation to suicide prevention.

HEE has also worked with the National Suicide Prevention Alliance to ensure that the competency framework is referenced on their website.

In addition, throughout 2019, members of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Delivery Group will explore how the Competency Frameworks can be used and promoted within their networks.