Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of people committing suicide whilst in prison.

Every death in custody is a tragedy, and the Government is committed to reducing the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

All prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves. Building on this, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has put in place additional resources for safer custody work in prisons and at regional level. These staff support safer custody work in prisons and share good practice across establishments. NOMS will be conducting a review of the operation of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork system (the case management process for prisoners assessed as being at risk) in 2015.

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. This review will report in the Spring.

We continue to explore the reasons for the recent increase in the number of self-inflicted deaths, but there is no simple explanation for it. Strenuous efforts are made to learn from every self-inflicted death, and we have accepted and acted on the vast majority of recommendations from recent investigations by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.