Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making suicide prevention a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

All pupils in schools are taught about mental health as part of the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, which the department made mandatory in 2020 to ensure that all pupils are taught about important topics.

Schools can teach older pupils about suicide in an age-appropriate and sensitive way. The RSHE statutory guidance advises that schools should approach teaching about self-harm and suicide carefully and should be aware of the risks to pupils from exposure to materials that are instructive rather than preventative. This includes websites or videos that provide instructions or methods of self-harm or suicide. The guidance is clear that if teachers have concerns about a specific pupil in relation to self-harm or suicidal thoughts, they must follow safeguarding procedures immediately.