PUBLIC awareness about mental ill-health in men and boys is growing but more must be done to tackle the problem, the women and equalities committee said today.

Over 70 per cent of people who take their own lives are men and it’s the biggest cause of death for under-35s, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The committee has launched an inquiry probing government plans on mental health.

Committee chairwoman Maria Miller said: “While there are plenty of statistics out there which show how serious this problem is, too little is known about what affects mental health for men and boys, the social and economic costs, the groups that are most at risk and, most importantly, the action needed to tackle it.”

Nearly 40 per cent of men worry that taking time off work for mental health reasons will make their employer think less of them, according to the Mental Health Forum.