Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many deaths in custody were labelled as non-natural deaths in (a) each year since 2010 and (b) each month since January 2016.

Figures showing the number of deaths from various causes, broken down by month and year, can be found in the Deaths Data Tool at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-june-2018.

Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service uses the following classifications for cause of death:

• natural causes;
• self-inflicted;
• homicide;
• other / non-natural; and
• awaiting further information (where the cause of death is not yet known - as more information becomes available these cases will be reclassified as having been from one of the other causes).

All those deaths that are not in the first and last categories are considered to be non-natural deaths.

It should be noted that the HMPPS system for classifying deaths is used for administrative and statistical purposes, and that it is a coroner’s statutory duty to determine the cause of death in each case through the inquest process.

The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe, and we are committed to reducing the incidence of non-natural deaths across the estate. This is why we have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to improve safety in custody.