§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in reducing the suicide rate among severely mentally ill people since 1997. [10012]
§ Jacqui Smith:[holding answer 29 October 2001]: We take the issue of suicide very seriously. This is why strategies to reduce suicide form a major part of the Government's programme outlined in "Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation, (OHN)" and why the Department funds the "National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness". It is too early to assess progress on the overall "OHN" target to reduce the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury by at least a fifth by the year 2010. This is because the most recent three-year pooled data overlap the start of OHN, 826W which was published in 1999. However, the Department is taking steps to implement recommendations concerning those with a severe mental illness outlined in the most recent report of the national confidential inquiry called "Safety First", published in March 2001.