Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the closure of Papyrus HOPELINE247 on the health and well-being of children and young people; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure continued access to specialist suicide prevention support for children and young people following the closure of that service.

The Government’s Suicide Prevention Strategy identifies children and young people as a priority group and sets out a range of actions across education, healthcare, and online safety to help identify risk earlier, provide timely support, and reduce the number of young lives lost to suicide. We recognise the significant contribution the Papyrus HOPELINE247 has made to these efforts in recent years, and it is very sad to see the reports concerning its closure, but we will continue to ensure that every young person needing urgent mental health support knows they have somewhere to turn.