§ Mr. SimmondsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths have occurred on average each year over the last three years in(a) England and (b) each county owing to suicide. [37733]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Mark Simmonds, dated 26 February 2002:
1215WAs National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question asking how many deaths have occurred on average each year over the last 3 years in England and each county owing to suicide. (37733).The figures requested are given in the table below.
Suicides1 by English counties2 and former counties, years of occurrence 1998 to 2000 1998 1999 2000 1998–2000 South Yorkshire (Metropolitan County) 129 117 120 366 Staffordshire, former county of 107 103 88 298 Suffolk 60 52 60 172 Surrey 85 72 85 242 Tees Valley less Darlington 51 46 44 141 The Humber 86 94 85 265 Tyne and Wear (Metropolitan County) 109 120 114 343 Warwickshire 45 50 44 139 West Midlands (Metropolitan County) 219 245 245 709 West Sussex 59 81 73 213 West Yorkshire (Metropolitan County) 199 235 158 592 Wiltshire, former county of 48 46 47 141 1 Suicide is defined by ONS using the following codes from the International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision: E950-E959, E980-E989, excluding E988.8 2 Data are presented for English counties in 1998 to 2000, based on their boundaries in those years, and for former counties (based on the equivalent areas covered by current authorities.)