Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the suicide prevention strategy; and what steps he is taking to help reduce suicide rates.

There has been significant work and progress across the Government, the National Health Service, the police, the voluntary sector, academia, and wider partners to deliver the strategy.

As part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government will recruit 8,500 mental health workers specially trained to support people at risk of suicide, to help ease pressure on busy mental health services.

The Government also continues to fund the Multicentre Study of Self-harm, whose work is vital in informing the development of policy, and of clinical practice.

The Online Safety Act puts new duties on social media companies and search services to help protect children and adults from harmful content online.

Between August 2023 and March 2025, £10 million was made available to voluntary, community, and social enterprises in England through the national 2023 to 2025 Suicide Prevention Grant Fund. The Department is now evaluating the impact of the fund, and learning from the evaluation will help to inform the delivery of the Government’s mission to reduce the lives lost to suicide.