Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the study entitled Recession, recovery and suicide in mental health patients in England: time trend analysis, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry on 13 June 2019, what assessment he has made of the effect of economic pressures on male adults' mental health; and what steps he is taking to provide support and targeted interventions for patients experiencing financial difficulties.

The Government recognises the impact that debt and financial difficulty can have on men’s mental health and wellbeing and that men are at a higher risk of suicide.

The National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights groups that need tailored approaches to address their mental health needs to reduce their suicide risk, including men. Every local authority has a suicide prevention plan in place and we are investing £25 million over the next three years to support these local plans. We have worked with NHS England and Public Health England to ensure that this funding is used to test different approaches to reaching men in local communities.

We are working with the local government sector to assess the effectiveness of those plans, and a report will be published shortly that will highlight areas of best practice and areas for improvement. This report will include an analysis of the extent to which local authority plans are addressing high risk groups.