Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will hold discussions with technology companies on the implications for his policies on suicide prevention of the publication of detailed information on suicide methods online.

We published the third progress report of the Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy for England in January which set out the Government’s intention to explore ways of working with suicide prevention stakeholders and the online sector to address potentially harmful suicidal content online.

The Government continues to work closely with the United Kingdom Council for Child Internet Safety which engages social media companies to make sure they are committed to protecting children who use their platforms. This includes issues around suicidal content.

The Government also expects social media companies, and others, to have robust processes in place and to act promptly, including removing content which does not comply with the acceptable use policies or terms and conditions they have in place and, where appropriate, suspending or terminating the accounts of those breaching the rules in place.