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Written Question
Suicide: Farmers
Monday 9th December 2024

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

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2023

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/quarterlysuicidedeathregistrationsinengland/2001to2023registrationsandquarter1jantomartoquarter2aprtojune2024provisionaldata

[3]https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/probable-suicides-2023/

[4]https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/cause-death/suicide-deaths

[5]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/adhocs/15043suicidebyoccupationenglandandwales2011to2021registrations

[6]https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/near-to-real-time-suspected-suicide-surveillance-nrtsss-for-england/statistical-report-near-to-real-time-suspected-suicide-surveillance-nrtsss-for-england-for-the-15-months-to-august-2023