Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data the Government collects on the relationship between domestic abuse and death by suicide.

The Home Office funded the Domestic Homicide and Suspected Victim Suicides Project in 2020. This was led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing and hosted by the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme to monitor domestic homicides during the pandemic to build our evidence base on domestic homicides and suicides following domestic abuse.

This project is the first-time data on victim suicides has been collected nationally for the Home Office. The Government does not routinely collect data on the relationship between domestic abuse and death by suicide. Official suicide death registrations data is collected and published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) but this does not include information about possible contributory factors in a suicide such as domestic abuse.

The first 12-month Domestic Homicide and Suspected Victim Suicides Project Domestic Homicides and Suspected Victim Suicides During the Covid-19 Pandemic 2020-2021 (publishing.service.gov.uk) report was published on 25 August 2021 and includes some limited information on suspected suicides of individuals with a known history of domestic abuse victimisation. We continue to fund the project, which is now in its second year.

In addition to this, Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) must be considered for all deaths involving a person over the age of 16 where domestic abuse has, or appears to have been a factor. This includes deaths by suicides. We are undertaking a project to create a central repository for all DHRs which will allow us to better understand the patterns and trends of domestic homicides and suicides of individuals with a known history of domestic abuse victimisation.