Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what measures exist to support effective suicide (1) surveillance, and (2) prevention.

The National near Real Time Suspected Suicide Surveillance system will be live by the end of 2023. Its reports will act as an early warning system for indications of change in suicides through analysis of data on suspected suicides.

Everyone has a role to play in suicide prevention and the Government published its new five-year, cross-Government and cross-sector suicide prevention strategy for England on 11 September 2023. The content of the strategy was informed by data, evidence, and engagement with stakeholders, including people with lived experience, and by the mental health and wellbeing plan call for evidence conducted in 2022.

The Strategy is a call for action for national and local government, the health service, and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, employers, and individuals to tackle suicide. It sets out over 100 actions from across a wide range of organisations to support our ambitions for suicide prevention.