Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoner death inquests were heard on the Isle of Wight in (1) 2023, and (2) 2024; and how many prisoner death inquests on the Isle of Wight are outstanding for those years.

No inquests were concluded in 2023 and 2024 relating to prison deaths in the Isle of Wight coroner area. There were 13 such deaths in 2023 and 6 in 2024.

The data is unpublished management information derived from administrative systems and has not been subject to the same quality checks as Official Statistics which are published by the Ministry of Justice.

My response to the Noble Lady’s Question HL7660 set out the steps which the Isle of Wight Council is taking, together with the Senior Coroner and the Chief Coroner, to address the issue of inquest backlogs. As I also confirmed in that response, the Government is committed to supporting an inquest process which is as swift as possible, and which puts the bereaved families at the heart of the process. We recognise the impact of delays on bereaved families and wider systems and will continue to work closely with the Chief Coroner, local authorities and other key partners to reform and deliver a framework for the future development of coroner services.