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Suicide and Self-harm in a Recession

Anyone who can take any step to turn someone away for that brief moment in which they might think again should do so. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that whatever barriers are needed in that car park should be in place, and I thank him for his intervention. I would direct the Minister to research carried out by Professor David Gunnell et al on the effect of the economic crisis in east and south-east Asia in the 1990s, to recent work by Professor Keith Hawton, David Platt and Camilla Haw, and to the work of Professor Purkis and the steps taken in Australia to deal with, and indeed to reduce, suicide in a recession. There is broad agreement in academia, psychiatry and mental health charities on what steps need to be taken to reduce suicide and the effect of a recession on suicide and self-harm rates. Suicide prevention must remain a priority of public health policy in all countries in the UK. There should be structures at national, regional and local level and mechanisms for the flow of information, evaluation and best practice in reducing suicide and self-harm. That best practice must be known, shared and implemented. It is essential that research into what works and why people are taking their own lives be funded. The current national suicide prevention strategy for England is coming to an end. I urge the Government to ensure that this work continues to be funded and taken forward. Overseeing and administering the strategy, including issuing annual reports, costs very little, but the potential cost-effectiveness of continuing it is enormous. It is important that the strategy should help to ensure a continued focus on all those working in the field. The Samaritans and the Royal College of Psychiatrists stress the need for all people attending accident and emergency departments, as well as those admitted to hospital following incidents of self-harm or attempted suicide, to be referred to trained mental health professionals and sources of help. It is sad to say that many people—especially those who self-harm—are seen as attention-seeking, and do not get the help and support that they need. They do not get onward referrals, and instead return again and again. The risk of their self-harming becoming suicide ideation and suicide is very high. It is critical to ensure that people receive the help and support that they need, once they take that first step of approaching A and E. Mental health needs in general, and a specific strategy to prevent suicide and self-harm in particular, should form a central part of the upcoming White Paper on public health. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm that that will be the case. In addition to those facing unemployment and debt, or relationship problems, the needs of those at particular risk—they include asylum seekers, those in minority ethnic groups, those in institutional care, sexual minorities, veterans and those bereaved by suicide—should be actively addressed as part of the strategy. I call on the Government to establish a UK-wide forum to bring together agencies from the four nations that are involved in suicide prevention policy, research and practice, to help us formulate a way forward through the difficult years ahead. The Departments responsible for public health in each of the four Administrations must lead a cross-departmental strategy to raise awareness of self-harm and ensure that front-line staff in education, social work, prisons, Jobcentre Plus, the police and other relevant agencies receive appropriate training in dealing with self-harm and those at risk of suicide. Included in such a strategy should be the monitoring of harmful internet sites that encourage or incite suicide and self-harm. I would like to pay my personal thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) for her help in taking that issue forward in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. However, we now urgently need to address the legal status of those sites on a European level, so that we can increase our control over them and prevent them from reaching out and damaging the lives of people across the UK. It is important that Government websites, including the NHS Direct and Department of Health sites, should include authoritative, accessible and user-friendly information on the help and support available both to those who self-harm or who are contemplating taking their own lives, and to their friends and their family. The NHS has a guide, entitled ““Help is at Hand: A resource for people bereaved by suicide and other sudden, traumatic death””. That excellent guide, which could possibly be updated and reviewed, gives advice for those who are suddenly bereaved. It is an excellent example of the kind of information that should be available. Unfortunately, not enough front-line staff know about it, so the information is not getting to those who need it. Services coming into contact with those who have been bereaved by suicide should know about the document and be able to distribute it. It is vital to ensure that GPs' surgeries, the police, social workers and coroners have access to it, and that families receive it. Professors Gunnell, Platt and Hawton, in an article recently published in the British Medical Journal, stress the importance of social policy measures to create new jobs, of adequate welfare benefits for unemployed people, and of the provision of alternatives to early entry into the labour market, especially for young people, such as increasing the number of university places. It is important to give people a sense of hope. They also argue that employers and trade unions must be mindful of the potential risk to mental health of redundancy, and that workers should be given the help and support that they need. I was pleased by the help and support that I received from the former Member for South Dorset to ensure that front-line Jobcentre Plus staff had access to support and training to give them an understanding of mental health needs, and of the risk to the mental health and emotional stability of those who had newly been made redundant or become unemployed. I should like to know whether that help, support and training will continue to be available to Jobcentre Plus staff. In concluding my remarks, I want to stress that most people who lose their jobs, their homes or their businesses in a recession do not commit suicide or self-harm, but we must be aware of the increased risk in the current economic climate. This must be addressed by the Government. I am aware that new figures are coming out tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing whether the tremendous reduction in suicides in this country is continuing. I fear that perhaps it is not. I also encourage the Government to enter discussions with the media on the reporting of suicides, to prevent the potential for social contagion. In the past few years, many of the national newspapers have become much more aware of what they are doing when they report such cases. I do not wish to criticise, but it is important, in a recession, that we do not exaggerate or even raise the link between the loss of a job and a death. I believe that the Government could take a lead in that area. I would also ask all Ministers, when looking at policy, to bear in mind the emotional devastation and exhaustion that drives a person to suicide, and the enormous loss for friends and family, and to avoid trivialising that pain and despair as the Secretary of State for Transport, the right hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) did in a recent article on train delays. I do not want to see that repeated. It has been my aim in this debate to raise awareness, and to concentrate focus across government on the potential consequences of policy decisions if they are not mitigated by the help and support recommended by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, leading academic researchers and voluntary agencies working in this field. Finally, I invite the Minister to attend a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on suicide and self-harm prevention, to discuss what the Government are going to do to reduce suicide and self-harm, so that we can engage and work together to reduce the incidence of such terrible loss and damage.