The new Suicide prevention strategy for England: 2023 to 2028 was published on 11 September 2023. This strategy sets out the government’s ambitions over the next 5 years to: reduce suicide rates, improve support for people who have self-harmed, and improve support for people bereaved by suicide. Informed by the Mental Health Call for Evidence launched in 2022, the strategy identifies priority groups, suicide risk factors and the steps we need to take in consultation with individuals, organisations across national and local government, the NHS, the private sector, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE), and academia. This includes steps and actions to tackle known risk factors, many of which the EFRA Committee’s report rightly identifies as affecting those living in rural areas, including agricultural workers and veterinary workers. In addition to the strategy, DHSC recently launched a £10 million Suicide Prevention Grant Fund to support the suicide prevention VCSE sector to deliver activity that can help sustain their services to help meet increased demand for support, or to embed preventative activity that can help to prevent suicides and stem the flow into crisis services. The strategic objectives of the Fund are: • to support non-profit organisations to configure their suicide prevention services and activities to better meet the increased demand seen in recent years, • to support a range of diverse and innovative activity that can prevent suicides, both at a national and community level. The Fund is particularly targeted towards supporting suicide prevention activity in geographic areas where demand for services is greatest and where there are disparities in provision and access to services, compared to other regions in England. We are proud to be investing an additional £57 million in suicide prevention by 2023/24 through the NHS Long Term Plan. Through this, all areas of the country are seeing investment to support local suicide prevention plans and the development of suicide bereavement services. Funding beyond 2024/25 is subject to future Spending Reviews, and we will consider further opportunities to build upon this investment for suicide prevention. The government recognises that suicide risk by occupational groups may vary nationally, and even locally, and it is vital that the statutory sector and local agencies are alert to this and adapt their suicide prevention interventions accordingly. We know that there are a range of issues that veterinary sector workers and agricultural workers are faced with that are beyond their control, and which can impact on their mental health. We also know that the farming industry is a male-dominated industry and that men are at higher risk of suicide, and less likely to seek help or talk about mental health. To further improve our understanding of risk, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is using data from Census 2021 linked with other administrative datasets, including NHS Talking Therapies, Hospital Episode Statistics, and death registration data, which will help to improve understanding of the suicide rates in different occupations, including farmers. The aim is to use this data to identify where actions should be prioritised to support different occupations.