Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department is taking for suicide prevention training for (a) police officers, (b) paramedics, (c) firefighters and (d) other emergency responders.

Significant work is underway to strengthen the quality and consistency of training across the system.

NHS England published ‘Staying safe from suicide: Best practice guidance for safety assessment, formulation and management’ to support the Government’s work to reduce suicide and improve mental health services. The guidance requires all mental health practitioners to align their practice to the latest evidence in suicide prevention, and is available at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/publication/staying-safe-from-suicide.

The NHS England Medium Term Planning Framework states that in 2026/27, all integrated care boards must ensure mental health practitioners across all providers undertake training and deliver care in line with the ‘Staying safe from suicide’ guidance.