Youth Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Support
Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Contributions
Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab) [R]Labour
I beg to move, That this House has considered Government support for youth suicide prevention charities and mental health support for young people. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Wishart. I am grateful to have secured this debate on a subject that touches every single constituency represented in this House. Last month, I introduced a debate for World Suicide Prevention Day; many of the same hon. Members were present, and there was a strong focus on recognising that we all need to do more. Sadly, in the same week, Papyrus Prevention of Young Suicide, a charity that supported young people and their families for nearly 30 years, went into administration. We are just over one month on from that day, and following the news of this debate, many charities and third-sector organisations have been in touch to ask if they can contribute, not because they want recognition but because they all feel the strain of funding and fear what will happen if no one listens to their pleas.
Warinder Juss (Wolverhampton West) (Lab)Labour
On Saturday, I attended a service of hope and remembrance for World Mental Health Day at St Peter’s collegiate church in my constituency. It brought together a range of organisations dealing with suicide—bereavement, debt advice, drug and alcohol support, mental health services and wider community assistance, all working together to prevent suicide. Does my hon. Friend agree that that kind of joined up, community-based approach is vital for early intervention and preventing deaths through suicide?
I most certainly agree that people coming together and working together can really make a difference. Well done to my hon. Friend’s community for doing that.
Alex Easton (North Down) (Ind)Independent
I thank the hon. Member for securing this debate. The Coroners Service for Northern Ireland reported 290 suicides in Northern Ireland in 2024; eight in 10 of those were male and 28% were from the most deprived communities, underlining the urgent need to reach people across our UK. Does the hon. Member agree that we need sustained Government funding targeted at community outreach, prompt counselling and specialist care?
I most certainly agree that we need to do all we can to support young people—in fact, all people—facing ideas of suicidality. I will touch on the issue of funding. As I was saying, we are just over a month on from that day, and so many organisations have been in touch wanting to contribute. I apologise to those who I cannot mention and whose specific points I cannot refer to. I know that they provide a lifeline to so many people, and I will do my best to do them justice. Papyrus had a national focus and offered hope to thousands of young people across the UK. It offered specialist support for young people, which I am sure the Minister will know was a vital support given that the biggest killer of young people is suicide.
Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)Labour
I thank my hon. Friend for the excellent work she does in this area. I met Papyrus through my constituent Emma Webb, who my hon. Friend knows and who campaigns on suicide awareness among young people after sadly losing her daughter. The fact that rising demand is cited as one of the main reasons for Papyrus’ closure should tell us absolutely everything we need to know. I join my hon. Friend in calling on the Minister to do everything we can to fill the gap left by HopeLine 24/7.
Pete Wishart (in the Chair)Scottish National Party
Order. I remind hon. Members that we have only an hour and there will be a strict time limit. Interventions will have to be limited and hon. Members will have to be patient.
I most certainly agree with the points my hon. Friend made, and I thank her constituent for the work she does in raising awareness. With its sudden closure, we lost one of the most vital services that Papyrus provided: HopeLine 24/7, our nation’s only round-the-clock help line staffed by advisers trained to support young people experiencing suicidal thoughts. Over the years that that service existed, it helped save the lives of so many young people, and the staff provided an important service unlike any other. I want to take a moment now to thank all those 120 members of staff who worked for Papyrus, on the helpline and in its other suicide prevention services. For three decades, Papyrus saved lives. When a young person called HopeLine 24/7, they spoke with advisers who understood the pressures facing under-35s. Schools, colleges, universities and GPs relied on its work. Child and adolescent mental health services—CAMHS, as we usually call it—and emergency departments routinely signposted young people in distress to Papyrus, knowing that they would receive safe, compassionate care. My own office and many places of work across the country displayed posters signposting people to the service, with its contact details clearly listed so that any young person or parent struggling with the subject knew exactly where to find immediate help. When Papyrus went into administration, callers were redirected to Samaritans or to the Shout text helpline—both excellent services, but not a dedicated helpline for young people. We all know that, just because the HopeLine 24/7 service no longer exists, the need to support young people does not disappear. Many young people are worried that there is nowhere to turn, as the option to talk to someone who understands them has gone.
Tahir Ali (Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley) (Lab)Labour
The Children’s Commissioner has reported that more than 1 million children have active referrals to mental health services, so does my hon. Friend agree that help and support need to be provided not only to young people but to parents, voluntary organisations and charities, who do good work in this area, to prevent suicide?
I certainly agree with the Children’s Commissioner and with my hon. Friend on the issues he has raised. The young people who would have reached out to HopeLine 24/7 are still struggling with severe emotional distress. Without that helpline, the pressure falls directly on to overstretched emergency services, NHS 111 handlers, GP surgeries and partner charities such as the Samaritans, Shout and Chasing the Stigma, which are already running at full capacity. I recently met with the administrators of Papyrus, and they tell me that there is real hope that another charity or service could recreate a helpline dedicated to young people so that they can still access specialist support. They are keen to speak with Government officials about what help can be given to ensure that the helpline, and maybe some other parts of Papyrus’ work, can continue. Will the Minister ask her officials to make that contact and be a part of a working solution for young people? As we have heard, the service is still vital. The 3 Dads Walking—Andy, Mike and Tim—have spoken forcefully about the loss of HopeLine 24/7. Having each suffered the unbearable loss of a daughter to suicide—Sophie, Beth and Emily—they have walked hundreds of miles across the country and raised more than £1.5 million for Papyrus. They told me that they will get behind whatever organisation is able to pick up Papyrus’s work. Following the closure, the 3 Dads asked why a national service relied upon by NHS trusts and CAMHS was left financially dependent on voluntary donations and charity work. That is a fair question that we in Parliament must answer.
Gordon McKee (Glasgow South) (Lab)Labour
My hon. Friend is making a powerful and important speech on something she has campaigned very hard on. Does she agree that we ought to learn from countries such as the Netherlands, where they have a much more integrated system to help young people with their mental health, physical health and employment opportunities, all of which contribute to the overall mental health picture?
Certainly, we need to learn from best practice wherever it occurs to make sure that we can look after our young people and keep them safe. We need to urgently take steps to close the gap in support for young people. There are organisations that are willing to provide a helpline and that have the skills and ability to support young people. The administrators are working with those organisations, but they are keen to speak to the Government about what help might be available to make those plans a reality. The Government have an opportunity to come to the table, create dependable support for people under 35 and set a precedent of care for those who need this vital service.
John Milne (Horsham) (LD)Liberal Democrat
On 27 September, it was five years since my constituent Jess’s son Mason died by suicide. His death was one of several examined in a local safeguarding review, but it took three years of Jess chasing and pressure from my office just to see its recommendations. She has still not seen the full report. Does the hon. Member agree that we should install a national oversight mechanism so that families can see whether lessons are acted on without feeling that they have to fight the system that is supposed to support them?
The hon. Member makes an important point that could certainly be developed further in another debate. The closure of Papyrus has highlighted the wider financial pressures among suicide prevention and mental health charities across the voluntary sector. That is not new, but Papyrus is an example that has hit hard. Across the country, non-profit organisations are supporting statutory health services without the predictable long-term funding required to keep their doors open. Over recent years, major Government grant programmes for suicide prevention have reached the end of their funding period. The £10 million suicide prevention grant fund for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, which supported 79 charities across England, ended in March 2025. It was a one-off fund and the official evaluation of the scheme showed that, while short-term grants funded helpful community projects, the lack of ongoing funding left charities facing sudden financial cliff edges once the grants ended. In addition, the £57 million allocated to local areas through NHS England for suicide prevention came to an end in April 2024. The London-based charity Body and Soul surveyed its young service users. It told me that the short funding cycles threatened specialist staffing, the stable referral routes that they have on offer, and the continuity needed to build trust. Short-term funding incentivises short projects and countable contacts over creating the sustained capacity needed by young people whose difficulties do not resolve to a grant timetable. The north-east based charity If U Care Share, which Members will have heard me speak about before, has raised the precarious nature that short-term funding means for charities trying to create long-term programmes for their communities. I have certainly helped them try to achieve funding in the past.
Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)Liberal Democrat
On the impact of short-term funding, there is a very human cost. More often than not it is the young people involved who pay the price. I have had casework about people losing probably their only outlet for therapy when funding for their point of contact—someone they had built up a relationship with—has gone, and that has thrown them back into a crisis. Does the hon. Member agree that short-term funding has real-world impacts on young people?
I agree with the hon. Member because we hear that from charities time and again, particularly in this area of work. I mentioned two charities, but the story is repeated right across the country. It is vital that we tackle the funding issues facing charities that provide preventative work. To prevent suicide among young people we must address the pressures they face. Suicide remains the leading cause of death for individuals under 35 in the UK and the Samaritans report that about 200 school-aged children take their own lives every year. There are so many statistics we could quote about why young people consider suicide, but we already know them too well. Statutory services, such as the mental health support teams in schools, CAMHS and other NHS statutory services, play an important part in supporting the most vulnerable in our system. The Government must be congratulated on focusing on those areas. However, we must not forget that it is third sector organisations that are able to be adaptable and present in young people’s everyday lives. They can offer a safe, external space where young people can go to feel supported, and they open the doors that young people need to build the foundations of a better life. The Government have taken positive steps, including the announcement of £343 million in capital funding for new community mental health hubs and emergency centres. That capital investment is welcome, but without people—both NHS staff and, crucially, the voluntary sector—it will not be effective. Hope Haven in Whitehaven, where the NHS and the voluntary sector work together to maximise the quality of care and support for the community, is a good example of where that happens. It is essential that our various strategies work together.
Mark Sewards (Leeds South West and Morley) (Lab)Labour
My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. The Education Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee worked together on this subject and found that the NHS and local commissioners are not taking advantage of the expertise in those third sector organisations. Does she agree that the Government should take note of their report and act on its recommendations?
Order. We have about 20 hon. Members waiting to speak with about 10 to 15 minutes available. Is the hon. Lady about to conclude her remarks?
Yes. I am going to skip some things, important though they are, because I know other hon. Members want to come in. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds South West and Morley (Mark Sewards) for his comment, and I agree that we need to take note of that report. As we develop the mental health strategy, we must take account of young people’s needs and make sure they do not fall through the gaps between strategies, such as the men’s health strategy. I will go straight to my asks of the Government. Right now, there is growing demand due to the closure of Papyrus’s HopeLine 24/7. That can be remedied at pace, with other charities seeking to fill the gap, but they need support from the Minister. Will she work with the administrators to ensure that can happen as quickly as possible, to prevent a gap in that vital service? Will the Minister ask her officials to contact the administrators of Papyrus and their specialist adviser to discuss what financial and other support can be offered, to make sure that a properly skilled and specialist young persons’ helpline can be retrieved from the collapse of Papyrus? In the longer term, will she consider the funding needed for our third sector organisations in suicide prevention and mental health to continue to provide open-access support that must be the bedrock of work in mental health? Finally, will she confirm that youth suicide prevention and children’s mental health will explicitly form part of the forthcoming mental health strategy? Every statistic we discuss represents a young person whose life was cut short, leaving behind a family and a community reshaped by grief. The closure of Papyrus must not be seen as a single charity going under; all our third sector partners are struggling. It is impossible to build a strong mental health system, in which third sector organisations play a crucial part, if we allow the charities keeping our young people alive to close due to financial strain. Suicide is preventable. By supporting our voluntary sector, funding frontline services and acting early when a young person reaches out, we can save lives and give every person in distress a reason to stay.
As we can see, there is exceptional demand for this short debate. We will have to confine ourselves to a one-minute time limit because the Front-Bench speeches have to start at 5.08 pm. We would have started with Tim Farron, but he has just left. We will start with Dr Neil Hudson.
Dr Neil Hudson (Epping Forest) (Con)Conservative
It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) on securing this debate, and I thank her for all the hard work she does to highlight this crucial area. I have been privileged to work with her on the all-party parliamentary group on suicide and self-harm prevention. I could not make this speech without paying tribute to Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen, better known to all of us as 3 Dads Walking. It has been a humbling privilege to work alongside Andy, Mike and Tim, who tragically lost their precious daughters, Sophie, Beth and Emily, to suicide. United by shared grief, they did something so simple yet so powerful: they walked, they talked and, together, they changed the national conversation on suicide prevention, all while raising over £1.5 million for Papyrus. It was therefore devastating that, in the very week of World Suicide Prevention Day, we heard that Papyrus had gone into administration. Papyrus provided a vital lifeline to young people. There are three excellent charities providing support in this area: Samaritans; Shout, with its crisis text service; and Chasing the Stigma, which provides the Hub of Hope mental health support directory. But with the loss of Papyrus, we have a huge gap. The three dads showed us that prevention and signposting are a critical layer that helps us to address mental health and suicide. I remind the Minister that there is so much work to do across society, and prevention and signposting have to be at the forefront alongside treatment and intervention when crisis occurs. That will help save lives. I urge the Government to act.
Given that not everyone who was down to speak bobbed, we are back to two minutes. I remind Dr Hudson that he did get his two minutes.
Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this debate. She is right to highlight the vital work of youth suicide prevention charities and the need for sustainable funding. I pay tribute to Hector’s House, a brilliant charity in my constituency that supports young people at risk of suicide in Hector’s memory. In Aylesbury, I run a programme for young people on politics, government and leadership called “Your Voice, Your Future”. The young people share their campaign ideas with me, and they often focus on mental health. One group made it their focus project—“Be You, Not Blue” was the name of their campaign. Their point was that, while awareness of mental health matters and is improving, awareness is not the same as understanding, and understanding does not yet translate into the support that young people need nationally or in their communities. Therefore, while it is so important that we get the support right for people in crisis, and the mental health strategy presents a real opportunity to do that, I reflect the point that young people make to me, which is that we should not be waiting until people are at crisis point to offer support. It is vital that support kicks in early, that mental health is woven through everything that schools do, that brilliant youth mental health charities such as Aylesbury Youth Action and Action4Youth in my constituency are known and accessible to people, and that mental health support is mainstreamed through the Government’s youth services. Today’s debate presents a real opportunity to get youth mental health support right more broadly. I know the Minister is working hard on that to make sure that we provide support early, as well as for those who get to that crisis point.
Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)Liberal Democrat
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) on securing this debate and on all of her excellent work in this field. The closure of Papyrus last month was a devastating loss. Its HopeLine 24/7 helped countless people at the toughest point of their lives for nearly 30 years. I pay tribute to its staff, who will have experienced incredibly tough times while handling very delicate but vitally important calls. While HopeLine 24/7 has been disbanded, the demand for help has not gone away; it will simply move to other already stressed helpline services. Papyrus helped to alleviate the demand on other charities and health services, and the NHS even signposted Papyrus to people looking for support. I add my words to what the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett has already said about 3 Dads Walking and the incredible work they have done to raise money for Papyrus. It is obviously a great sadness to all of us that the service has come to an end. As the demand for suicide prevention hotlines is growing, I would be grateful if the Minister would consider working with Papyrus’s administrators to restore HopeLine 24/7. The independent review of mental health conditions, ADHD and autism found that mental distress has increased significantly, especially for young people. Investment in services has not kept pace with that demand, meaning that people wait longer for support, which often exacerbates existing mental health conditions. One of the many recommendations is to close the treatment gap and strengthen specialist services for people with the most complex needs. My constituency is home to Cassel hospital, a tier 4 therapeutic community for adults with complex multiple diagnosis presentations. Patients tell me that the treatment they receive there is lifesaving and life changing, and although the hospital has proven that its work saves the NHS millions of pounds by reducing hospitalisations and the need for emergency services, tier 4 services are under review by NHS England. Withdrawing funding from a hospital that serves people suffering from the most complex mental health conditions would be a travesty, and I would be grateful if the Minister could arrange time to speak with me regarding this matter.
Mr Bayo Alaba (Southend East and Rochford) (Ind)Independent
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this sad but very necessary debate. In the UK, we are fortunate to have a number of charities that are dedicated to the prevention of suicide among our young people, and I am deeply proud of this Government’s work to tackle the issue head-on. But regardless of that work, the unacceptable reality is that suicide remains the leading cause of death among the under-35s. Last month’s announcement that the Papyrus Prevention of Young Suicide charity will cease operations was devastating. I was motivated to speak in this debate not only by the recent closure of Papyrus but by the story of Lesley Harris, a constituent who lost her 13-year-old granddaughter Ella to suicide in 2023. Despite presenting at A&E with suicidal thoughts, Ella was ultimately discharged after speaking to healthcare professionals. She did not receive a full suicide risk assessment and subsequently took her own life. Since their devastating loss, Ella’s friends and family have launched a petition calling for suicide risk assessments to be legally mandatory whenever a young person in hospital expresses an intention to harm themselves. I am pleased to say that, thanks to their hard work, the petition has now achieved 20,000 signatures and will receive a Government response. I fundamentally support their efforts and have written to both the Prime Minister and the Department of Health and Social Care to that effect. I look forward to receiving their responses.
Llinos Medi (Ynys Môn) (PC)Plaid Cymru
Diolch yn fawr, Mr Wishart. I commend the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this important debate. I start by expressing my deepest sympathies to all the families, friends and communities affected by suicide. Today, I will focus on two charities that serve my constituency and beyond. The DPJ Foundation was set up in July 2016, following the death of Daniel Picton-Jones. His widow, Emma, established the foundation to support the mental health of those in the farming sector. Ten years on, the foundation continues to provide invaluable support for farming communities across Wales by providing specialist support tailored specifically to those in agriculture, which means that our young farmers receive support in our rural communities. Papyrus has already been mentioned. The other charity that I will focus on today is 3 Dads Walking. I am privileged that one of the three dads, Mike, is my constituent, and I was able to join them last June in their walk around my constituency of Ynys Môn. On that walk, I had those conversations with family members and friends who have been deeply affected by suicide about the importance of prevention, the importance of having a support network and the importance of 24-hour support. That is why 3 Dads Walking raised so much money for HopeLine 24/7. The closure of HopeLine 24/7 in September came despite it having just had its two busiest months in nearly 30 years, which shows that the service is needed more than ever. The decision to close HopeLine 24/7 will mean the loss of lives, so I urge the Government to do all they can to support the valuable work of charities such as Papyrus and the DPJ Foundation so that young people continue to have access to essential support in their communities, wherever they live.
Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. Any death by suicide is devastating, but the death by suicide of a child is unimaginable. Although suicide rates are highest among the middle-aged, there has been a concerning increase among children and young people in recent years. One worrying trend linked to the health problems and suicide rate in Portsmouth is the troubling rise in the use of ketamine. In February 2026, Sarah lost her daughter Honor to suicide following a battle with ketamine addiction. Honor was bright and loved, but she was let down by a system that did not recognise the danger until it was too late. She was 23. Ketamine addiction among young people is a growing crisis hiding in plain sight. Unlike with alcohol or vaping, most parents do not see the signs of it. Most schools do not teach it, and most GPs do not even screen for it. Search engines and information online do not highlight the dangers and the damage it does to a person’s body and mind. Drugs like ketamine are frequently marketed on mainstream social media. The widespread availability and low cost of this substance make it particularly accessible to teenagers, and the class B classification it carries does not deter people from selling or buying it. That is why Sarah set up the H23 Foundation to fight ketamine addiction and prevent more lives like Honor’s from being lost. The foundation aims to reach as many students and young people as possible, to provide support for families and to create a lasting legacy through systemic change. Efforts by our Government since 2024 to address ketamine addiction have been a welcome start. However, there is more to do. I would be grateful if the Minister could outline any other efforts the Government are making to address the specific challenges rising ketamine use and wider drug addiction pose to young people’s mental health and risk of suicide, and how we can ensure that the truth about the damage this drug does to people is available. Stories like Honor’s show just how devastating the consequences can be if left unaddressed.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)Democratic Unionist Party
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart. A big thank you to the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for setting the scene so incredibly well. This profound and heartbreaking crisis touches almost every community, school and street across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. When we talk about the mental health of our young people, we are talking about our future. The world our young people have inherited is one of intense and inescapable pressure: social media follows them everywhere, there is no place to hide from cyber-bullying, and the continuous distortion of self-worth is pulling our youth into dark, isolated corners. In Northern Ireland, one in 10 have engaged in self-harm, and we have lost 290 to suicide in a single year. Every one of them represents an empty chair at a family table, a shattered home and a life of potential cut tragically short. Regional figures from Ards and North Down council indicate that the number of suicides in Ards and North Down increased by a shocking 40% over the last four years. Our local youth services and schools are overwhelmed. Grassroots groups are doing an angelic job, but they are fighting an uphill battle against rising demand and unstable funding. Our young people in Comber and Newtownards, and right down the Ards peninsula, which I represent and where I live, deserve better than a system in which they have to wait months on end just to speak to a mental health professional. That is not satisfactory. Early intervention is not a luxury; it is a life-saving necessity.
Order. I am going to have to reduce the time limit to a minute and a half to try to get everybody in.
Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)Labour (Co-op)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for bringing forward this debate. Seeing how many colleagues have attended is a real reminder that no constituency or community is safe from the devastating impact of suicide, or from the very particular kind of grief that comes with the death of a young person. In Suffolk, we lost 65 people to suicide in 2024, 10 of whom lived in Ipswich. To each of their families, I want to say sorry: sorry that the help they needed was not there, sorry that the signs were not spotted sooner and sorry that they were so badly let down. However, I also want to highlight and thank the local charities that are doing incredible work in protecting our young people. Suffolk Mind, for example, offers a wide range of courses for children and young people, to empower them with the tools they need to look after their own mental health and to help them become more resilient, emotionally aware and well-resourced adults. I am really pleased that the Government’s Pride in Place funding is going towards helping it open a new centre in Ipswich town centre. We are also very lucky to have a local Samaritans branch—I am sure many colleagues here will attest to that—which has supported our community for over half a century. In a typical year, its team of more than 100 volunteers listens to 20,000 phone calls and spends 4,000 hours on the phone with people who need that support. However, I want to be clear that charities cannot and should not be expected to carry this burden alone. At the moment, someone experiencing a mental health crisis locally may have to go through a busy A&E department and then wait for specialist support to become available. I am therefore pleased that the Woodlands unit at Ipswich hospital is getting dedicated emergency mental health provision as part of a national roll-out backed by £350 million. We owe it to every young person in Ipswich, in Suffolk and across the country to give them the support they need, when they need it.
Juliet Campbell (Broxtowe) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this important debate. Mental health for children and young people is one of the defining health challenges of our time, because one in five young people has a confirmed or suspected mental health condition. In Broxtowe, I see the scale, the need and the value of community-based support. The Middle Street Resource Centre in Beeston provides mental health support services to young people and adults in my community. I am enormously grateful to the staff and volunteers for everything they do. New referrals to its services have doubled in the last year, yet its staff numbers do not reflect that, even more so now that some of the larger funders have temporarily withdrawn funding opportunities, meaning that the demand for small funders is significantly oversubscribed. Core costs, including staff costs, are the hardest to fund. Without sufficient funding, these specialist organisations will not be able to help young people who struggle to engage with more formal or centralised services. Young people need services to help them recover, build resilience and, even more importantly, no longer need ongoing care when they are adults. I ask the Government to provide additional funding.
Frank McNally (Coatbridge and Bellshill) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist). In my local authority of North Lanarkshire, we have suicide rates above the Scottish national average, and we know that young people face particular challenges. During 2024, 735 young people registered with the online mental health charity Kooth in North Lanarkshire alone, with 68% of logins outside normal working hours, demonstrating the importance of ensuring that support is available when young people actually need it. I commend the tremendous work undertaken in North Lanarkshire to confront that challenge. The community partners there have made suicide prevention a priority and are working to ensure early intervention. Just last week, 150 young people at Ravenscraig regional sports centre took part in a netball and football tournament to raise awareness of suicide prevention. These types of community partnerships can genuinely save lives, but local authorities and voluntary organisations cannot tackle this challenge alone, and often face difficult financial settlements. I encourage the Government and the Scottish Government to provide additional support to local authorities and third-sector organisations to ensure they have long-term certainty and can deliver the support needed as early as possible—long before young people reach that desperate stage.
We can get two more speakers in if they take a minute each.
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)Labour
Meur ras, Mr Wishart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this important debate. Improving mental health services for our young people is deeply personal for me, and one of the reasons I became an MP. Too often, the first support someone receives comes only once they have reached crisis point, either at a busy A&E department or on a charity hotline, so I was extremely concerned to hear that Papyrus had gone into administration. One constituent, Anne, lost her son Toby to suicide in 2011. She told me how Papyrus had given her and others hope for the future. She raised thousands to keep its HopeLine going, including by trekking 50 km across the Sahara in Toby’s memory. She speaks for many when she asks how such a vital service could be allowed to disappear. I welcome the Government’s investment in new community mental health centres and crisis centres, including in my constituency. They are the right investments—
Order. I call Sureena Brackenridge.
Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)Labour
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart. I put on record my heartfelt thoughts and wishes for all those affected by suicide. Because of the constraints of time, I will focus on the number of children presenting at A&E in a mental health crisis and experiencing a complexity of mental health issues. and ask the Minister two questions. First, what action are the Government taking to reduce the number of children reaching crisis point and presenting at A&E, including by improving access to community-based support and CAMHS? Secondly, will the Government consider a children’s health investment standard to ensure that children’s mental health receives a fair share of NHS funding, and ensure that every school can access appropriately trained mental health professionals?
Apologies to those colleagues who could not speak in the debate. We shall move to the Lib Dem spokesperson, Danny Chambers.
Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)Liberal Democrat
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for giving such an eloquent speech at the beginning of this difficult debate. When I became an MP two years ago, there were half a million children on waiting lists for mental health services—about two months ago, that number has risen to a million. That is a million children needing help and a million families who are probably stressed beyond belief, worrying about the impacts of being on a long-term waiting list. The Darzi report showed that mental health accounts for 20% of the NHS caseload, yet at the time, in 2024, it was receiving only 10% of funding. We are really disappointed that the Government removed the mental health investment standard, which ensured that the proportion of money spent on mental health increased in line with the money spent on physical health. As a result of the standard being broken, NHS mental health services now receive 8% of funding. The proportion is dropping while we have record waiting lists. The cuts to mental health services are not limited to NHS services. Last year, the Government cut the VCSE grant—a vital fund that contributes to many charities and organisations, such as Samaritans, men’s sheds, young farmers’ groups and youth groups. One such organisation was Papyrus, which many Members have spoken about. It offered support for children and young people experiencing suicidal thoughts, and its loss is devastating. Organisations like Papyrus and the amazing Winchester Youth Counselling in my constituency are vital because they give children support before they need clinical NHS services. That support is early, targeted and often self-referred. They offer counselling and talking therapies, which not only helps children to maintain their mental health but saves the NHS money, because young people are less likely to end up in extreme cases that lead them to A&E, which is probably the worst place for them.
Cat Eccles (Stourbridge) (Lab)Labour
The recent demise of Papyrus was sad. It did amazing work not just in running the HopeLine but in pioneering suicide safety planning for young people and supporting parents. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government urgently need to replace those services somewhere in the mental health ecosystem?
I totally agree with the hon. Lady. Those organisations are so important. Some politicians from some parties have been using mental health and children’s mental health as a bit of a political football, such as by calling young people struggling with mental health “snowflakes”. That is absolutely shameful, and those comments affect families who have lost children, and children who have lost brothers and sisters. When there is one less child in the school football team, when there is one empty chair at the dining table and when there is one fewer pair of shoes at the front door, the loss affects families for the rest of their lives—forever. I pay tribute my constituent Martyn Pond in Alresford, who lost his son Archie at only 19 years old. Martyn got a bench put in, made by an amazing organisation called Legends on the Bench. The bench is solar-powered and has a light on at night time. There is a QR code, through which people can read a memorial to Archie. There is also support and signposting to organisations such as Samaritans, so that anyone who comes across the bench at a time of crisis, feeling alone, can get support. It is an amazing tribute to an amazing young man. I want to finish by urging the Government to restore the mental health investment standard. Politicians overuse the word “crisis”, but it is really hard to think of another word to describe the state of children’s mental health and mental health services at the moment.
Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)Conservative
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. I thank the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this debate and for the courage and dignity with which she, and indeed all hon. Members, have spoken. We know that record numbers of young people in England are asking for help, and too many of them are waiting months, if not years, to receive it. In March, nearly a million under-18s had an active referral. We need to do better. Like so many hon. Members, I pay tribute to the families who have turned their grief into action. My hon. Friend the Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson) mentioned 3 Dads Walking and the £1.5 million they raised after losing their daughters. I also think of organisations such as Samaritans and YoungMinds, and many other national and local charities. I pay tribute to bereaved families in my constituency, some of whom I have worked closely with. That brings me to Papyrus. Last month, it entered into administration, its HopeLine 24/7 went silent and 120 jobs were lost. A young person in crisis tonight cannot call the line that was built for them. The administrators cited rising demand, higher costs and falling reliable funding, and the Samaritans and Shout have warned of further pressure on charities working in an “extremely challenging financial environment”. The suicide prevention grant fund, which was launched under the previous Government, gave £10 million to 79 organisations between 2023 and 2025. Papyrus was shortlisted for £625,000 from that, and in the previous round it received over £150,000 for HopeLine 24/7. The Government chose not to renew that fund, and said they had no plans for another—I know of no replacement of comparable scale. I suspect that the Minister may point to money for suicide prevention pathfinders in the men’s health strategy, but that is much less than the fund provided, and it is not a helpline. Then there are the costs: since April 2025, charities have faced additional burdens, including increases through employer national insurance contributions. The Government cannot withdraw funds and raise costs, and then express surprise when charities struggle. Colleagues from across the House have previously asked whether the Government would consider if their own evaluation of the fund found that it had worked. I ask the Minister: did that evaluation take place, and what was its outcome? The previous Conservative Government had a record to be proud of: the first Suicide Prevention Minister, the first cross-Government plan in 2019, the five-year strategy, the national suicide surveillance system in 2023 and the Online Safety Act 2023, which requires companies to remove illegal content that encourages suicide and made encouraging self-harm a criminal offence. On 8 September, Ministers reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to a strategy. The call for evidence on the wider mental health strategy closed in July, but we are waiting for an outcome from the Government. Given the time, I will close closer to home. Following the death of a man in Farnham in 2022, my constituent, Mr Clarke Senior, who served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, the Gulf and Kosovo and lives with disabilities sustained in the line of duty, got involved with the veterans’ charity Legend on the Bench. In December, I will be attending the unveiling of three suicide prevention benches across Farnham, sponsored by the University for the Creative Arts and the Waverley borough and Farnham town councils, with more to follow in Bordon and Haslemere. I say to the Minister that the good will of a community and a bench cannot replace a trained and manned help line, so I have four questions for her. First, will the Government restore a dedicated, 24-hour youth suicide helpline? Secondly, will they review their decision to close the suicide prevention grant fund, publish their evaluation and move from 12-month to multi-year funding? Thirdly, what assessment has been made of the impact of higher national insurance contributions on the sustainability of youth suicide prevention charities? Fourthly, what progress have the Government made on the suicide prevention strategy, will they renew it when it expires in 2028, and will the Minister give firm dates for the mental health strategy? I know that many people watching this debate will be affected by this, and if anyone needs more help, the Samaritans are still available on 116 123. A young person in crisis tonight needs a line to call, and that is what Papyrus gave them. We on this side of the House will continue to support any efforts to improve support and to challenge policies where they fall short.
The Minister for Social Care and Mental Health (Alison McGovern)Labour
As ever, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart. I would like to thank Members from across the House who participated in such an important debate, and especially my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this debate. She does a very important job in chairing the all-party parliamentary group on suicide and self-harm prevention, and she will have heard today just how much her colleagues from across the House of Commons support her in that work. Officials have very kindly drafted me quite a long speech. I am going to try to answer Members’ questions, but given that you diligently tried to get so many people in, Mr Wishart, Members may have things to say that were missed. I think it would be better if they intervened on my speech, if that is acceptable to you, Mr Wishart, but that may mean that I miss paragraphs that officials have diligently written.
Sarah Hall (Warrington South) (Lab/Co-op)Labour (Co-op)
Papyrus was actually based in my constituency. Last month, alongside almost 60 cross-party MPs and peers, I wrote a letter to the Secretary of State calling for urgent action to protect these vital services. I have also spoken to the administrators, and they are incredibly keen to find a solution. Will the Minister set out what action is being taken in response to the concerns raised in the letter, and will she agree to meet me to discuss them?
Through my hon. Friend, I thank Papyrus and all those in her constituency for all their hard work. I will update colleagues in just a moment on the steps we will take from this point, but by way of context, people have mentioned the suicide prevention strategy for England, which shows that while suicide rates among children and young people are relatively low compared with older age groups, the longer-term trend is really concerning. Right across the House, we share that worry about the increase we have seen in suicide among the young. The strategy requires tailored and targeted support, early intervention and collaboration right across the public sector, which we all want to see. Before I turn to Papyrus and respond to the questions that my hon. Friends and others have put to me, I want to draw Members’ attention to the publication last week of the Fonagy review, which gave the wider context of rising mental distress, particularly for young people and especially for young women. If Members have not read the report, I strongly recommend it to them, because that is the context against which we will move forward before Christmas to publish the mental health strategy, which will pick up many of the issues that Members have mentioned. Turning to Papyrus, I hope that all those who have worked for Papyrus, been involved in it and raised funds, including 3 Dads Walking and so many others, will have heard the support for its work today. I want to add the Government’s gratitude. Officials are in touch with administrators to try to work with them in the way that colleagues have suggested. My recommendation would be that Members who are interested meet officials in the Department as soon as possible to be updated on that work, if that is acceptable to colleagues. Youth suicide prevention and mental health will be a part of the mental health strategy going forward. We need to take immediate steps to make sure that the process through the administration happens. Colleagues will understand that I cannot give more details at the Dispatch Box just now, but as I said, I suggest we have a meeting for colleagues with officials very soon so that they can understand the detail. Then we will need to make sure that the mental health strategy, which the Prime Minister has committed to before Christmas, takes into account all the issues that colleagues have raised today.
On that point, does the Minister agree that, as an absolute base principle of success, no young person should have to wait until the point of criticality at an A&E department or a charity helpline before they get the support that they deserve?
I wholeheartedly agree with that point. We need to move to a system where children and young people are able to get support quickly, in an open, non-stigmatising way, so that we do not see them reach crisis point. That is the direction of travel that the Fonagy review suggested last week, and we will take it forward through the mental health strategy. I am conscious that the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford), asked me some direct questions, including about funding. I want to respond to his point and the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds South West and Morley (Mark Sewards). There has been a real problem with short-term funding. Again, we need to think about what principles we should put in place to try to resolve that. We know that the best care and support from a mental health point of view often comes from the community and voluntary sector, and Members have described quite accurately what the funding environment has been like—too short term. I ask colleagues to work with me as we try to get to a better, more long-term arrangement.
Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)Labour (Co-op)
Earlier this month, Linking Hope hosted an upstream suicide prevention training event in Derby South. It does fantastic work with voluntary groups, charities and members of the public. Does my hon. Friend agree that the stronger those links are, the better we are all equipped to help young people in this area?
I agree that connectivity between organisations is really important. One of the things that the suicide prevention strategy has said is that preventing suicide is everybody’s business. We all need to have that in our minds and work together across organisations to support people. My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) asked me about ketamine use. The suicide prevention strategy identified substance misuse as an issue for suicide prevention, and I will be working very closely with colleagues across Government to try to support their work on substance misuse. The shadow Minister asked about evaluation, and I will write to him with the details on that. He is quite right to point out that it is extremely important that we understand the efficacy of what has been done before, so that we can bring that into the mental health strategy to come. The hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers) asked about the mental health investment standard. I will write to him with the details of how we are taking that forward. Spending forecasts show that we should reach £16.1 billion on mental health in 2026-27, which is a good thing. I have concerns about outcomes, because it is very important that while spending increases, recovery also increases. We want to make sure that we see continuous improvement in outcomes from those spending increases, particularly for some of the conditions that are most stigmatised—schizophrenia, bipolar and other conditions where we have not seen the better outcomes that we have for conditions that people find easier to talk about. A number of hon. Members, including the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney), asked whether I would meet them to discuss this topic, matters in their constituency or organisations that they have supported. My time for meeting MPs is Wednesday after Prime Minister’s questions, and if a Member of Parliament asks me to meet, I will meet. Please get in touch via the Department, and I will be happy to meet all hon. Members who wish me to. Members have also mentioned Samaritans and its number, 116 123, which is there to support those who need it. The NHS 111 service with the mental health option can also be used when people need that support. I wholeheartedly encourage us all to keep helping people to know where they can reach that support if they need it. Of course, we do not want children and young people to get to a crisis point. I hear from schools and teachers again and again about how they need support to make sure that they are addressing challenges where they come up for young people. That is why I am pleased with the progress being made through our mental health support teams in schools and colleges. The latest data shows that nearly 6 million pupils and learners are now covered by a mental health support team—about 60% of pupils and learners in England. We obviously have more to do, because we want coverage to be complete by 2029, but we are making progress. We are also investing in early support hubs, which a number of hon. Members have mentioned. They will provide that community-based, destigmatising support. Again, we have more progress to make on that. I want to finish by saying that it has been good and important to hear about hon. Members’ experiences with their constituents on this issue. We all want to work together to make sure that we can find any possible solution to what has happened with Papyrus. I suggest that we meet again shortly to discuss that, but my final message is really for any young person out there: you are not by yourself. You are not alone; reach out for help and you will be able to move forward, so please do reach out. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered Government support for youth suicide prevention charities and mental health support for young people.
Sitting adjourned.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5415324.