PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Police: Suicide (11 December 2023)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 818 on Police: Suicide, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of collecting information centrally on how many serving police officers have taken their own lives.

Asked by:
Navendu Mishra (Labour)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish data on suicides by occupation in England and Wales. Data on occupation is coded using the Standard Occupation Classification which includes a code of senior police officers, police officers (sergeant and below), and police community support officers.

This Government takes the physical and mental health of the police workforce very seriously and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £14m to the National Police Wellbeing Service.

Through the Police Covenant, we continue to work with policing partners to ensure those who work in policing and their families get the support and protection they need. We have already delivered pre-deployment mental health support for all new starters, established a Chief Medical Officer for policing and set an initial priority work stream on suicide prevention.

The Home Office is also providing funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. This will provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most and can be accessed from any area at any time.

Answered by:
Chris Philp (Conservative)
14 December 2023