Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have died by suicide while on remand in each of the last five years.

We publish this information as part of the Safety in Custody statistics available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-september-2019

Please see the number of self-inflicted deaths of those on remand in each of the last five years below:

2019 – 23

2018 – 27

2017 – 21

2016 – 33

2015 – 36

These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. As classification of deaths may change following inquest or as new information emerges numbers may change from time to time.

Every death in custody is a tragedy. We do all we can to prevent prisoners taking their own lives.

We have rolled out revised and improved “Introduction to Suicide and Self-harm Prevention” training for new and existing staff. Over 24,000 staff have received part training and over 12,000 have received training in all six modules.

We have increased the level of support for prisons to help staff implement and monitor any necessary changes and we continue to support prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm through the multi-disciplinary Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process.