Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking in response to the findings of the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership response report, National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide with Mental Illness: Making Mental Health Care Safer, published in October 2016.

We welcome the publication of the ‘National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness: Making Mental Health Care Safer’ and will carefully consider its findings.

We work closely with NHS England and other arm’s length bodies to deliver the aims of the cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy which includes reducing suicide in high risk groups such as people in contact with mental health services. We welcome the recommendation in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health that all deaths by suicide across National Health Service-funded mental health settings, including out-of-area placements, are learned from to prevent repeat events.

We are strengthening the Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy in key areas to improve delivery of its aims, which we will publish in due course.

Homicides by people with mental illness are rare and the Department works with a wide range of agencies across Government and the NHS to ensure there are robust processes in place to deliver safe care for patients in the community, including identifying and managing risks to ensure the safety of the public.