Independent Advisory Panel (IAP) on Deaths in Custody
Deaths in State Custody Parliamentary Log
This Parliamentary Log provides a summary of all Parliamentary business on issues relating to deaths in state custody since 1 April 2009. The log includes information on Parliamentary Business and Written Ministerial Statements from the UK Parliament and devolved assemblies. Whilst deaths in custodial establishments in Scotland and Northern Ireland fall outside of the IAP’s remit, the IAP felt that parliamentary business from these assemblies on deaths in custody would be of interest to readers.
If you would like further information about a particular entry, please email the Secretariat via the Contact page on the IAP website, or by emailing: .
Last updated: 23 April 2015
Deaths in Prison Custody
Deaths in Police Custody
Deaths in Secure Youth Estate
Deaths of Patients Detained under the Mental Health Act
Section 136 of the Mental Health Act (MHA)
Coroners Inquests
Coronial Reform
Deaths in Immigration Detention
Article 2 Compliant Investigations
Use of Force / Restraint
Use of Tasers
Examination of Avoidable Deaths
Written Ministerial Statement on ‘Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint’ (MMPR)
Written Ministerial Statement on Deaths in Prison Custody
Written Ministerial Statement on Corporate Manslaughter Act
Parliamentary Questions relating to Deaths in Prison CustodyName of Peer
Sir Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove)
Parliamentary Question - Prisons Counselling
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the respective responsibilities are of (a) prison governors and (b) prison chaplains in developing effective counselling and support for vulnerable prisoners; and if he will make a statement. PQ 226923 (Citation: HC Deb, 19 March 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
George Hollingbery (Meon Valley)
Parliamentary Question: Prisons - Mental Health Services
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to improve the mental health of prisoners. PQ 226885 Citation: HC Deb, 17 March 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)
Parliamentary Question - Prisoner and Staffing Safety
What steps he is taking to ensure the safety of prisoners and staff on the prison estate. PQ 908095 (Citation: HC Deb, 17 March 2015, c632)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd)
Parliamentary Question: Prisoners - Suicide
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners and what proportion of the prison population have killed themselves in each of the last 20 years. PQ 225903 (Citation: HC Deb, 9 March 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Patten (Conservative)
Parliamentary Question: Prisoners - Suicide
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 26 January (HL4088), whether every prisoner identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm is automatically under the care planning system of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork process. HL4969 (Citation: HL Deb, 25 February 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Condon (Crossbench)
Parliamentary Question - Prisoners: Suicide
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of people committing suicide whilst in prison. HL4428 (Citation: HL Deb, 9 February 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester, Liberal Democrat)
Parliamentary Question Suicides (Remand Prisoners)
How many prisoners on remand committed suicide in the last five years; and how many such people were in safe cells. (PQ 907377) Citation: HC Deb, 3 February 2015, c126
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central)
Parliamentary Questions - Prisoners: Suicide
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of suicides within prisons in England and Wales. (PQ 221788) Citation: HC Deb, 27 January 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Patten (Conservative)
Parliamentary Question - Prisoners: Suicide
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 3 December (HL2986), what is their assessment of the amount per annum spent on reducing self-inflicted deaths in custody. HL4088 (Citation: HL Deb, 26 January 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) Opposition Whip (Commons)
Parliamentary Question: Prisons - Mental Health
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children held on the segregation unit at HM Young Offender Institution Feltham had an identified mental health issue in each month in 2014. PQ 220348 (Citation: HC Deb, 15 January 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here and here
Name of Peer
Lord Patel of Bradford (Crossbench)
Parliamentary Question on Prison Suicide
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people committed suicide in prison in England in 2014; and of those
(1) how many received mental health assessments prior to their deaths, and
(2) how many were diagnosed with a mental health illness. HL3902 (Citation: HL Deb, 15 January 2015, c273W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Andrew Griffiths (Burton, Conservative)
Parliamentary Question on Prison Drugs
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical interventions for opioid dependence there were in prisons in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14; and what proportion of such interventions were (i) maintenance prescriptions and (ii) detoxification treatments. (Citation: HC Deb, 5 January 2015, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Patten (Conservative)
Parliamentary Question on Prisoners Death
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many serving prisoners have died (1) by suicide, and (2) from natural causes, in each year from 2010 to date. [HL2986] (Citation: HL Deb, 3 December 2014, c276W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Ben Bradshaw (Exeter, Labour)
Parliamentary Question on Mental Health Services: Children
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on how many occasions children with mental health problems have been detained in police custody or in prison in Devon because of a lack of appropriate accommodation in each of the last five years. (PQ 217064: 3 December 2014)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton, Labour)
Parliamentary Question on prisoners at HMP Altcourse
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase prisoner safety at HM Prison Altcourse. (Citation: HC Deb, 2 December 2014, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Blencathra (Conservative)
Parliamentary Question - Prisoners: Suicide
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many self-inflicted deaths of prisoners occurred in (1) 2003, and (2) 2013. [HL2733] (Citation: HL Deb, 21 November 2014, c148W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Sadiq Khan (Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice; Tooting, Labour)
Parliamentary Question on Prisoners on remand
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harming there were among people held on remand in each year since 2010.
(Citation HC Deb, 11 November 2014, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South, Liberal Democrat)
Parliamentary Questions on Drugs in Prisons
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in England and Wales have died from drug overdoses in each of the last three years. (Citation: HC Deb, 10 November 2014, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Clinton-Davis (Labour)
Parliamentary Question on Prison Suicide
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of suicides in HM prisons. (PQ: HL2334) (Citation: HL Deb, 6 November 2014, c268W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Beecham (Labour)
Parliamentary Question on Prison Suicide
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take in relation to the growth in the number of suicides in prisons in the light of the observations of the Prison Service Ombudsman’s description of the deaths as “utterly unacceptable”, as reported in The Guardian on 18 October. (PQ: HL2257) (Citation: HL Deb, 4 November 2014, c229W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Julian Huppert (Cambridge, Liberal Democrat)
Parliamentary Question - Prisoners' Release: Drugs
(1) To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many of the opioid-related deaths which occurred in Wales in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 occurred in people who had been released from prison in the four weeks prior to their death. (Citation: HC Deb, 3 November 2014, cW)
(2) To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many of the opioid-related deaths which occurred in England in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 occurred in people who had been released from prison in the four weeks prior to their death. (Citation: HC Deb, 3 November 2014, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Dan Jarvis (Labour, Shadow Minister (Justice); Barnsley Central)
Parliamentary Question on Prisoners Self-harm
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that staff members in prisons and youth offenders institutions have sufficient information to allow inmates at risk of self-harm to be quickly identified. (Citation: HC Deb, 23 October 2014, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Stephen McCabe (Labour, Shadow Minister (Education); Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Parliamentary Question on Prisons Homicide
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many murders there have been in English prisons in each of the last three years. (Citation: HC Deb, 14 October 2014, cW)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Baroness Stern (Crossbench)
Parliamentary Question – Glen Para Young Offender Institution
(1)To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes have been made at Glen Para Young Offenders Institution since the report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons published on 6 August, which concluded that “Glen Para was not safe.” (HL1807: 26 September 2014)
(2) To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons published on 6 August on Glen Parva Young Offenders Institution, whether they have introduced measures to reduce the use of force, including full control and restraint. (HL1808: HL Deb, 26 September 2014, c495W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Baroness Stern (Crossbench)
Parliamentary Question - Hindley Young Offender Institution
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken in response to the report published on 15 August by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on the lower site at Hindley Young Offenders Institution, and the report’s conclusion that the Institution “struggled to keep the vulnerable boys it held safe”. (HL1803: HL Deb, 26 September 2014, c496W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Baroness Stern (Crossbench)
Parliamentary Question - prison health services: Hindley Young Offender Institution
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the report published on 15 August by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on the lower site at Hindley Young Offenders Institution, which found that there were insufficient services for boys with brain injuries, learning disabilities or in need of speech and language therapy, whether they have any plans to improve the health services provided to boys in the lower site at Hindley Young Offenders Institution. (HL1806: 26 September 2014).
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con): NHS England and Young Offenders Institution (YOI) Hindley have not yet responded to the August 2014 report published by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons. Currently, healthcare services commissioned for the population in YOI Hindley aged under 18 years include treatment for acquired or traumatic brain injury, learning disabilities and difficulties and speech, language and communication needs. These remain an important element of the overall service, which is based on needs identified in the health and wellbeing needs assessment for YOI Hindley. (HL Deb, 26 September 2014, c474W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Baroness Stern (Crossbench)
Parliamentary Question - Prisoners self-harm
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken in response to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons’ findings in respect of case management procedures to support those at risk of self-harm and the number of self-harm incidents. (HL1583: HL Deb, 26 September 2014, c465W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
Name of MP
Diane Abbott ((Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Labour)
Parliamentary Question - Prisons Mental Health Services
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mental healthcare provision is available for prison inmates in England; what assessment he has made of the performance and adequacy of this provision; and if he will make a statement. (PQ 208387: HC Deb, 11 September 2014, c672W)
To read the response, please use the link here.
To see Norman Lamb’s response to Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) on 7 July 2014, Official Report, columns 45-46W, please use the link here.
Name of Peer
Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour)
Parliamentary Question on Prisoners Death
(1) To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners have died in custody in the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years; and what the percentage change has been year on year for the same period. (HL890: 28 July 2014)
(2) To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners have committed suicide in custody in the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years; and what the percentage change has been year on year for the same period. (HL892: 28 July 2014)
To read the response, please use this link here.
Name of MP
Dan Jarvis (Labour, Shadow Minister (Justice); Barnsley Central)
Parliamentary Question on Prison suicide