To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have died in police custody in each year since 1990; and in respect of how many such deaths the coroner's court returned a verdict of (a) accidental death, (b) death by misadventure, (c) unlawful killing, (d) open verdict and (e) another verdict in each such year. (290620)

[holding answer 9 September 2009]: The Home Office was responsible for publishing statistics relating to death following police contact which included the verdict from any coroner's inquest until 31 March 2004. Since 1 April 2004 the Independent Police Complaints Commission has been responsible for the collation and publication of such data.

The statistics between 1990-2000 are contained within Police Complaints and Discipline Bulletins and separately from 1997 on the Home Office and IPCC websites.