HC Deb 29 April 1996 vol 276 cc399-400W
Ms Quin

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of suicides in prison in each of the past 10 years.[25902]

Miss Widdecombe

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Ms Joyce Quinn, dated 29 April 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of suicides in Prison Service establishments in the past ten years. The attached table shows the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales in each year of the past ten years.

Year Self-inflicted deaths
1986 21
1987 46
1988 37
1989 48
1990 50
1991 42
1992 41
1993 47
1994 62
1995 60
19961 (Total as of 19 April 1996) 17

Ms Jowell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) attempted suicides and (b) suicides have been committed by young (i) men and (ii) women in prison establishments for each year since 1990. [26782]

Miss Widdecombe

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Ms Tessa Jowell, dated 29 April 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about suicides and attempted suicides by young men and women in prison establishments in each year since 1990. The attached table gives the number of reported incidents of attempted suicides and the number of self-inflicted deaths for young offenders, male and female, aged 15-21 inclusive, for the years 1990 to 1995.

Breakdown of attempted suicides and self-inflicted deaths by young offenders, male and female, aged 15-21 inclusive, for the period 1990–95
Attempted suicides Self-inflicted deaths
year Male Female Male Female
1990 — — 10 0
1991 209 15 7 0
1992 278 21 10 1
1993 246 10 3 0
1994 254 3 12 0
1995 158 3 12 0
1 Figures for attempted suicides were not collected centrally until 1991.

Mr. Cox

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if each prison in England and Wales has an officer fully trained in suicide awareness; and if he will make a statement; [26539]

(2) if he will make a statement on the training given to prison officers in suicide awareness; and when this training was last reviewed. [26540]

Miss Widdecombe

Responsibility for these matters has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 29 April 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about suicide awareness training in prisons in England and Wales. Training in suicide awareness was last reviewed in preparation for the launch of the current strategy in April 1994. The strategy is underpinned by a comprehensive training manual in modular form. As part of the implementation process, all governors nominated staff to attend central training as tutors. Tutors then carried forward the training of staff of all grades within their own establishment. Every prison has a minimum of one member of staff trained as a suicide awareness tutor who contributes to the overall training programme set out by the governor.