Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many self-inflicted deaths of prisoners occurred in (1) 2003, and (2) 2013.

The number of self-inflicted deaths in prison in 2003 and 2013 is published in the Safety in Custody statistical bulletin which is available at http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics.

Reducing the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons is a key priority for the Government. We are working hard to understand any trends, but, as is the case in society at large, there is no simple explanation with complex and individual reasons behind any suicide.

We have dedicated resources providing support every day in prisons and have created a specialist team to help share good practice as part of our strenuous efforts to learn from each death.

Young adults are a particularly challenging and vulnerable group, and that is why we have commissioned an independent review into the deaths of 18 to 24-year-olds in prison custody.