Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Office of Rail and Road, (b) Network Rail and (c) Train Operating Companies on suicide prevention.

Regular and on-going communication takes place between the Department and all agencies that have a role to play in safeguarding the vulnerable. There is concerted activity by the rail industry to manage the risk and put in place suicide prevention strategies.

DfT has a leadership role across the industry and drives a variety of regular meetings and working groups. In addition to the work of the National Suicide Prevention Working Group, the department chairs a regular working group meeting (DfT and aligned agencies suicide prevention meeting) that is attended by Network Rail, TfL, and the wider transport sector. This group now meet regularly to share good practice, update on activity and look for shared opportunities for suicide prevention initiatives.

A specific example of a forthcoming workshop is the Suicide Prevention (Dissuasion) Workshop being held on 26 March 2020 which will bring together Network Rail, Transport for London, Train Operators, the ORR, and the wider transport sector, to promote new thinking and developments in the prevention arena.