Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to keep and publish detailed records of farmer, landowner, and family business owner suicides in the months leading up to the reduction of agricultural and business property reliefs for inheritance tax, for the purpose of public interest.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Lord Roborough
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
19 December 2024
Dear Lord Roborough,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking whether we plan to keep and publish detailed records of farmer, landowner, and family business owner suicides in the months leading up to the reduction of agricultural and business property reliefs for inheritance tax, for the purpose of public interest (HL3558).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration, which is a legal requirement. This data enables the ONS to produce detailed statistics on suicides that are registered in England and Wales and we publish regular annual[1] and quarterly[2] statistics. All these are based on date of registration, rather than occurrence.
In England and Wales, all deaths by suicide are certified by a coroner and cannot be registered until an inquest is completed. This results in a delay between the date the death occurred and the date of registration. Due to these registration delays, it will not be possible to produce accurate statistics on suicides occurring in 2026 until 2028. The ONS will continue its quarterly publication of suicide statistics and analysis of suicide deaths by occupation based on registration date. However, a more regular presentation of suicide deaths by occupation is not planned.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to keep monthly data on farmer, landowner and family business owner suicides and suicide attempts.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Lord Roborough
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
29 November 2024
Dear Lord Roborough,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking whether we plan to keep monthly data on farmer, landowner and family business owner suicides and suicide attempts (HL2859).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual suicide death registration statistics for England and Wales[1]. Also published regularly are provisional statistics on suicide death registrations by quarter in England[2]. As these statistics are based on death registrations, they do not inform us about suicide attempts. The ONS holds death registrations for England and Wales only; separate figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland and are available from the National Records of Scotland (NRS)[3] and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)[4], respectively.
Suicide deaths are few enough in number that disaggregating them by age group or region in our quarterly provisional statistics for England presents very small numbers for some groups. Statistics such as change in rates of suicide deaths for small groups can therefore be volatile and uncertain. As such, while the ONS is committed to continuing its quarterly publication of suicide statistics and analysing suicide deaths by occupation using annual data[5], a more regular presentation of suicide deaths by occupation is not planned.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) produce a statistical report on near to real-time suspected suicide surveillance (nRTSSS) for England[6], which is revised monthly, but does not present suicides by occupation.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[3]https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/probable-suicides-2023/
[4]https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/cause-death/suicide-deaths