Written question asked by Michael Meacher (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 April 2005. It was answered by Ivor Caplin (Labour) on Monday, 4 April 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Gulf War veterans have committed suicide; what estimate he has made of how many Gulf War veterans have committed suicide in prison.

Answer: Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many Gulf War veterans have committed suicide; [223887] (2) what estimate he has made of how many Gulf War veterans have committed suicide in prison. [223888] Mr. Caplin: As at 31 December 2004, there had been 120 deaths due to intentional self-harm and events of undetermined intent (suicides and open verdict deaths) among veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf Conflict, compared with an estimate of 112 in the comparison group of Service personnel who did not deploy. From the information available to the Defence Analytical Services Agency, of the 120 deaths, the number where the recorded place of death is stated as a HM Prison is less than five; it is not appropriate to give the precise number for these events for reasons of confidentiality. In a number of the 120 cases, the place of death is not apparent.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 432 c1211W; 223887;223888
Session: 2004-05
Subjects: Death Armed conflict Iraq-Kuwait conflict Prisoners Prisons Suicide Veterans
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk