Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding to help reduce the number of suicides in high-frequency suicide locations (a) along the south coast and (b) in the UK.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy 2023 for England is a five-year strategy which sets out the Government’s ambition for suicide prevention, together with over 100 actions that we think will deliver this. High frequency locations are a priority area, and we expect local commissioners to align with this.

The National Institute of Health Research is currently funding a £1.1 million research award to assess the effectiveness of surveillance technologies to prevent suicides at high-risk locations. The purpose of this study is to discern what technology is currently being used, how effective it is in preventing suicides, including understanding any unintended consequences of its use, and possible barriers to effectiveness.