Servicemen and Ex-servicemen: Suicide

Mr. Ellwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) active and (b) discharged military personnel have committed suicide following return from operational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Bob Ainsworth
The Ministry of Defence has centrally compiled and verified records of coroner-confirmed suicides or open verdict deaths among UK regular Service personnel up to 31 December 2006.

There have been 17 confirmed suicide or open verdict deaths among UK regular armed forces personnel following deployments to Operation TELIC and Operation HERRICK. Fifteen of those verdicts were Service personnel who had deployed to Operation TELIC, one had been deployed to Operation HERRICK and one had deployed to both operations.

The figures provided do not include any violent or unnatural deaths that have not yet been fully investigated by the coroner.

Information on suicides and open verdict deaths that may have occurred to Service personnel after discharge from the Services is not currently available.