Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require coroners statistically to record veteran suicides.

The Government takes the welfare of Armed Forces veterans very seriously and we are committed to improving our understanding of the risk of suicide and its prevalence among veterans.

To achieve this, the government has already taken a number of initiatives, including a new study into the causes of death, including suicide, amongst those who have served in the Armed Forces since 2001, and a Government-funded study conducted by Manchester University which is looking at the factors in the year leading up to any confirmed suicide in the Armed Forces community in the last five years.

However, given the importance of this issue, we are continuing to explore further options. My department is currently working with the Office for Veterans’ Affairs on this matter.

As you will be aware, an e-petition calling for coroners to be required statistically to record veteran suicides closed on 3 September 2020 and we will provide a response to it in due course.