§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) widows and (b) widowers have been widowed in such a way that an inquest has been required in each of the years 1997 to 2002. [145978]
§ Paul GogginsThis information is not collected centrally.
The number of inquests held in each year from 1997 to 2002 is contained in Table 3 of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Deaths reported to coroners, England and Wales, 2002", a copy of which is in the Library. It is not possible to deduce from this table the proportion of deceased persons represented by those inquests who would have left a widow or widower.