The Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill [HL] would require a coroner, at the conclusion of an inquest, to record an opinion on relevant factors causative to a death by suicide.
Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill [HL] (294KB PDF)
On 9 September 2022, the second reading of the Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill [HL] is scheduled to take place in the House of Lords. The bill is a private member’s bill introduced by the Bishop of St Albans.
The bill would require a coroner to record an opinion on relevant causes of a death by suicide at the conclusion of an inquest. It would also oblige the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to publish data on coroners’ recorded opinions on an annual and anonymised basis. The bill would make these changes via amendments to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013.
The purpose of the bill is to increase the collection of data on the causes of suicide. According to the Bishop of St Albans, this data could then be used to help address the underlying factors of suicide and help inform future policy and medical interventions. Currently, data on underlying causes of suicide (such as alcoholism, gambling addiction and others) remains limited.
The Bishop of St Albans introduced a similar version of the bill during the 2021–22 parliamentary session. This bill completed its stages in the House of Lords but failed to receive a date for second reading in the House of Commons before the end of the 2021‒22 parliamentary session.
In April 2022, the government published a discussion paper and call for evidence to help the development of a new cross-government 10-year plan for mental health and wellbeing in England. As part of this, it sought feedback on suicide prevention and committed to developing a separate suicide prevention plan. This new plan would refresh the existing suicide prevention strategy for England, first introduced in 2012 by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. The 2012 strategy set out plans for reducing the suicide rate in England, and also identified key areas of action, including supporting research and data collection. On 7 July 2022, Gillian Keegan, the minister for care and mental health, said the government would consider the evidence base for the causes of suicide as part of the development of the new suicide prevention plan.
If you are looking for support about suicide, the NHS website has links to a number of organisations that are there to help, including support for self-harm, even if you just want someone to talk to.
Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill [HL] (294KB PDF)
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