Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on research into suicide prevention in each year since 2010.

The information requested is not available.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Department’s Policy Research Programme (PRP). Spend on research funded directly by the NIHR is categorised by Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health categories including ‘mental health’. There are no HRCS health sub-categories, such as for suicide prevention.

Investment in mental health research by the NIHR has risen from £50 million in 2010/11 to £73 million in 2015/16. This includes significant research relating to suicide prevention.

Current investment in this area by the NIHR includes a £1.8 million multi-centre programme of clinical and public health research to guide health service priorities for preventing suicide.

To complement delivery of the national suicide prevention strategy, the PRP commissioned six research projects addressing four priority issues, with total investment of £1.5 million.