Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many coroners inquests have been held in (a) England and (b) Wales for the death of a UK national abroad in the last five years.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office received requests for documents to assist with coroner's inquests in England and Wales over the last five years (rounded to the nearest 100) as follows:

1,100 in 2019;

1,000 in 2020;

1,000 in 2021;

1,300 in 2022; and

1,300 in 2023.

The FCDO does not record separate figures for England and Wales. These figures may not be reflective of all deaths abroad where a coroner in England and Wales has taken forward an inquest as the FCDO may not have been contacted in every case. The Ministry of Justice produces statistics on coroners inquests: [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coroners-and-burials-statistics].