Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Royal Colleges on a link between social media and mental health problems.

Alistair Burt

Departmental Ministers meet with representatives from the Royal Colleges regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including mental health. We know that social media may have an effect of the behaviour and attitudes of people in relation to mental health issues and we are specifically aware of its influence in relation to suicide and self-harm. We are working with the Samaritans and the National Suicide Prevention Alliance to better understand the effect of social media on suicide and self-harm prevention.