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 reduce the number of teenage suicides.

Although relatively rare, the number of suicides amongst children and young people remains a concern. The National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights children and young people as a group requiring tailored approaches to mental health to reduce their risk of suicide. We published the first Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Workplan in January this year which sets out an ambitious programme for suicide prevention across national and local government. This workplan highlights steps we are taking across Government to reduce suicides in children and young people. The workplan is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/772210/national-suicide-prevention-strategy-workplan.pdf