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Written Question
Suicide: Gambling
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, , in what circumstances a death certificate will describe a suicide as being related to gambling.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The information recorded by the coroner in the Record of Inquest is dependent on the circumstances of the individual case and is at the coroner’s discretion as an independent judicial office holder in the exercise of their statutory functions. The register is completed by the Registrar using the coroner’s certificate after inquest, and will record the medical cause of death and the conclusion of the inquest. A death certificate contains the same information as the register entry.

The Government recognises that quality information on the circumstances leading to self-harm and suicide, including issues relating to gambling addiction, can support better interventions. However, whilst coroners may be made aware of information about the motivation or contributory factors in a suicide, it cannot be guaranteed that consistent and comprehensive information on a deceased person’s background will be made available to the coroner in every case.

In addition, expecting coroners to routinely assess the motivation for individual suicides would take the coronial role fundamentally beyond its legal parameters, which are to determine who died, and how, when and where they died.

However, in addition to the inquest conclusion, coroners have a statutory duty to make a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to a person where an investigation gives rise to a concern that future deaths will occur, and the coroner considers that action should be taken to reduce that risk. PFD reports are about learning and improvements to public health, welfare and safety and could, for example, raise concerns relating to gambling addiction where the circumstances of an individual case give rise to a concern. To promote learning, all PFD reports and the responses to them must be provided to the Chief Coroner, and most are published on the judiciary website.


Written Question
Suicide: Gambling
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in what circumstances a coroner will register a suicide as being related to gambling.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The information recorded by the coroner in the Record of Inquest is dependent on the circumstances of the individual case and is at the coroner’s discretion as an independent judicial office holder in the exercise of their statutory functions. The register is completed by the Registrar using the coroner’s certificate after inquest, and will record the medical cause of death and the conclusion of the inquest. A death certificate contains the same information as the register entry.

The Government recognises that quality information on the circumstances leading to self-harm and suicide, including issues relating to gambling addiction, can support better interventions. However, whilst coroners may be made aware of information about the motivation or contributory factors in a suicide, it cannot be guaranteed that consistent and comprehensive information on a deceased person’s background will be made available to the coroner in every case.

In addition, expecting coroners to routinely assess the motivation for individual suicides would take the coronial role fundamentally beyond its legal parameters, which are to determine who died, and how, when and where they died.

However, in addition to the inquest conclusion, coroners have a statutory duty to make a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to a person where an investigation gives rise to a concern that future deaths will occur, and the coroner considers that action should be taken to reduce that risk. PFD reports are about learning and improvements to public health, welfare and safety and could, for example, raise concerns relating to gambling addiction where the circumstances of an individual case give rise to a concern. To promote learning, all PFD reports and the responses to them must be provided to the Chief Coroner, and most are published on the judiciary website.


Written Question
Community Orders: Coronavirus
Tuesday 6th December 2022

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Courts and Probation Service on ensuring that community sentences handed out since the covid-19 pandemic will be fully enforced.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

As with other public services, probation had to find alternative ways of working during the pandemic.

Where offenders fail to engage with requirements, we take robust steps to enforce sentences and return them to court for breach.

For unpaid work, one of the key community sentence requirements, we are investing an additional £90m over this and the next 2 years to increase staffing levels and delivering significantly more hours of work – a target of 8 million a year compared to 5 million before the pandemic.

We have also invested £195m to procure over 120 contracts across England and Wales with charities and private sector organisations to deliver specialist services in partnership with probation, to support rehabilitation. These services include:

  • accommodation support,

  • education,

  • training and employment,

  • finance, debt and benefits, and

  • support to address drug dependency.


Written Question
Television Licences: Non-payment
Tuesday 27th September 2022

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were sent to prison for non-payment of the TV licence in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

A person cannot receive a custodial sentence for non-payment of the TV licence fee as the maximum penalty is a fine.

The number of people admitted to prison for failing to pay fines in respect of the non-payment of a TV licence in England and Wales in each of the last ten years can be viewed at the following link: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-07-15/37589.


Written Question
Prisoners' Transfers: Gender Recognition
Tuesday 28th November 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were transferred from a male to a female prison after reassigning their gender in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017, and how many of those prisoners in each of those years had been convicted of sex-related offences.

Answered by Phillip Lee

The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Package Holidays: Compensation
Wednesday 18th October 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made on plans to tackle bogus holiday sickness claims.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The Government is committed to taking action to address the issue of package holiday personal injury claims and announced a package of measures on 9 July 2017. As part of this, we published a Call for Evidence on 13 October 2017, the responses to which will inform future decisions. In addition, the Claims Management Regulator and the Solicitors Regulation Authority have taken significant steps to deal with abuses in this area. The travel industry itself also has a vital role to play and is taking steps to address the issues around package holiday claims.


Written Question
Family Courts: Perjury
Monday 9th October 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) men and (b) women were prosecuted for perjury in the family court in 2016.

Answered by Dominic Raab

10 men and 6 women were prosecuted for perjury in the family court in England and Wales in 2016.

This information was obtained from a manual review of court case files that centrally held data indicated may be relevant, and as such has not been through the same quality assurance processes as for routinely published data.

These figures relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.


Written Question
Family Courts: Perjury
Monday 11th September 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted for perjury in the family court in each year since 2007, by gender.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Package Holidays: Compensation
Tuesday 21st March 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will meet senior leaders of the travel industry to discuss the increasing incidence of gastric illness claims made by package holiday customers.

Answered by Oliver Heald

The Government is concerned about the apparent recent increase in holiday sickness claims and its potential implications for tour operators and the holiday industry more generally. My department is liaising with the Association of British Travel Agents and other industry representatives to understand the underlying problems and identify the most appropriate and effective response.

Tackling fraudulent claims is a key priority. The Claims Management Regulator is investigating claims management companies which are soliciting holidaymakers to make sickness claims and is actively working with industry representatives, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and other regulators to target and respond effectively to any abuses. We remain committed to ensuring that those CMCs which contact consumers to offer claims services do so legally.


Written Question
Package Holidays: Compensation
Tuesday 21st March 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what measures her Department is taking to tackle illegitimate and fraudulent activity by claims-handling companies in relation to gastric illness claims made by package holiday customers.

Answered by Oliver Heald

The Government is concerned about the apparent recent increase in holiday sickness claims and its potential implications for tour operators and the holiday industry more generally. My department is liaising with the Association of British Travel Agents and other industry representatives to understand the underlying problems and identify the most appropriate and effective response.

Tackling fraudulent claims is a key priority. The Claims Management Regulator is investigating claims management companies which are soliciting holidaymakers to make sickness claims and is actively working with industry representatives, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and other regulators to target and respond effectively to any abuses. We remain committed to ensuring that those CMCs which contact consumers to offer claims services do so legally.