Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many local authorities have a suicide prevention (a) group and (b) strategy.

The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health set a target for every local area to develop a multi-agency suicide prevention plan that demonstrates how they will implement interventions targeting high-risk locations and supporting high-risk groups within their population. As of March 2019 all local authorities have confirmed with Public Health England that they have a plan in place that has been agreed with their local partners.

The Department is working with the Association of Directors of Public Health and local government sector to assess the effectiveness of local suicide prevention plans, and a report will be published in spring with findings and themes, including areas for improvement and areas of best practice which can be shared across local authorities. This process will also inform a Sector-Led Improvement programme which will enable local areas to learn from each other and to further develop their plans.