Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications of coroners recording narrative verdicts in cases of suicide on the provision of accurate suicide statistics.

We have been working with the Chief Coroner to address areas around suicide, including narrative verdicts and the information recorded by coroners in deaths where suicide may have been suspected. However, coroners must meet the standard of proof of an intention beyond reasonable doubt in order to record a conclusion of suicide – to establish beyond reasonable doubt that a person took their own life and that they intended to take their own life.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has also worked with the Chief Coroner to improve the coding for narrative verdicts to improve data quality around suicide. The suicide rates published by the ONS may include deaths that were given an open verdict where the person’s intent was unknown.