Written questions by Anderson.

Whether he plans to provide further funding to (a) voluntary community and (b) social enterprise organisations responding to local suicide rates.

The Government has committed to tackling suicide. We will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health workers, and these new staff will be specially trained to support people at risk of suicide.The Department continues to provide funding to a wide range of national and local voluntary and community organisations to support their work on suicide prevention through the £10 million Suicide Prevention Grant Fund, which runs to March 2025.

When he expects the publication of the National Screening Committee’s review for prostate cancer.

The UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) evidence review for prostate cancer screening is already underway, and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan.

Whether he is taking steps to (a) increase funding available and (b) improve recruitment for community hospitals.

Departmental budgets for 2025/26 will be confirmed at my Rt Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s next Budget, on 30 October 2024. We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. There are a number of national recruitment programmes, aimed at increasing recruitment by widening access, supporting diversity, and attracting people new to care from local communities, as well as improving recruitment processes via the national Entry Careers programme and national Overhauling Recruitment programme. The Overhauling Recruitment programme seeks to support all National Health Service providers, including community hospitals. The national programme maintains a strong collaborative approach with regions as experts in their area, knowing their systems, geography, and demographics at a local employment level.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of NHS provision for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of ADHD and ASD in South Shropshire.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.The Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB advises that from April 2024, the contract for children and young people’s autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD services has received a significant funding uplift to support improved access. In respect of adult services, the ICB advises that the adult ADHD assessment service is currently under procurement, with the aim of ensuring more accessible and tailored support, and the ICB has recently partnered with Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to expand adult ASD assessments.