Written question asked by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 16 April 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 April 2004. It was answered by Ivor Caplin (Labour) on Monday, 26 April 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7th April, to question reference 165755, what the reasons are for the delay in collecting and analysing information with regard to incidents of self harm in the army.

Answer: Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 7 April, to question reference 165755, what the reasons are for the delay in collecting and analysing information with regard to incidents of self-harm in the army. [166929] Mr. Caplin: It is notoriously difficult to obtain reliable and consistent data about incidents of self-harm, because of problems of definition and identification, uncertainty about intention, patient confidentiality and the variety and inconsistency of reporting. As I indicated previously, more work is continuing to try to improve the collection of information.

Secondary information