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Suicide

Volume 494: debated on Tuesday 16 June 2009

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people have (a) committed suicide and (b) attempted to commit suicide in each (i) local authority area and (ii) constituency area in each quarter of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. (279073)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2009:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people have (a) committed suicide and (b) attempted to commit suicide in each quarter of the last five years in each (i) local authority area and (ii) constituency area in England. (279073)

The tables provide the number of deaths in England where suicide was the underlying cause of death by (1) local authority in each year (table 1), and (2) local authority in each quarter for all years combined (table 2), (3) parliamentary constituency in each year (table 3), and (4) parliamentary constituency in each quarter for all years combined (table 4), for 2003 to 2007 (the latest year available). Copies of the tables have been placed in the House of Commons library.

Figures are not available for local authorities and parliamentary constituencies by individual year and quarter, as these data are judged to be too detailed to preserve anonymity in death statistics.

Figures are not available for the number of people who have attempted to commit suicide, since these data are not routinely collected. Results from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey for 2000 and 2007 (the two most recent surveys) estimated that 0.5 per cent of persons aged between 16 and 74 in England attempted suicide in 2000, and 0.7 per cent in 2007.