§ Mr. PriskTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many serving armed forces personnel under 25 years of age have(a) attempted and (b) committed suicide in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [76624]
§ Dr. MoonieWe are unable to provide details of attempted suicide. Although data on all self-inflicted injuries are held at the relevant service casualty branches, information is not centrally held on whether the self-inflicted injury was attempted suicide.
Between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2001 there have been 19 reported suicides by members of the regular armed forces under the age of 25. These figures are based on coroners' (or Procurator Fiscal in Scotland) verdicts of suicide and excludes self-inflicted deaths with: open verdicts, accidental deaths or deaths due to misadventure. Figures from 1999 onwards may change significantly as there are a number of verdicts outstanding. These figures are broken down by year in the table:
680W
Year Total 1997 8 1998 2 1999 5 2000 3 2001 1 Grand Total 19