Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many deaths of people serving custodial sentences there have been in each of the last five years; and for each year, how many of those deaths were the result of (1) suicide, (2) violence, and (3) natural causes.

The Government publishes statistics on deaths in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables annually. The most recent tables were published on 26 January 2018 and cover the year to the end of December 2017.

(1) All classifications of deaths remain provisional until confirmed at inquest.

(2) Figures include incidents at HMPPS run Immigration Removal Centres.

(3) A proportion of the most recent two years' figures for 'other' deaths are expected to be re-classified as natural causes or self-inflicted deaths.

The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe, and while the latest figures show a welcome fall in the number of deaths in total and self-inflicted deaths in particular, we can and must do more. We have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to reduce deaths in custody, including: rolling out revised and improved training for staff in assessing and managing the risk of suicide and self-harm amongst prisoners (which has already reached nearly 15,000 staff); improving support for prisoners in their early days in custody; revising the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork case management process for those identified as being at risk; and renewing our partnership with the Samaritans by confirming a further three years' grant funding for their valuable Listeners Scheme.