Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners took their own lives by using an upended unsecured bedframe as a ligature point in each of the last five years in (a) HMP Northumberland, (b) private prisons, (c) public sector prisons; if she will take steps to ensure that all bedframes in prisons are securely fixed; and if she will make a statement.

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) records the methods used in self-inflicted deaths, including ligature points. However, the data do not show the precise way in which the ligature point was created.

Since 2005 all new and refurbished cells have been built to the safer cell standard, which minimises the availability of ligature points. This includes beds that are fixed in place and do not offer ligature points. In response to the recommendations of the review into self-inflicted deaths of young adult offenders conducted by Lord Harris, the Government committed to continuous improvement in this design, and to maintaining designated safer cells to the appropriate standard. We are clear, however, that designated safer cells must be seen as part of a wider care plan and can only complement, and not replace, a regime providing individualised and multi-disciplinary care for at-risk prisoners.