Defence written question – answered at on 19 June 2012.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many former members of the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force (i) committed and (ii) attempted suicide within (A) three, (B) five and (C) 10 years of discharge since 1992.
holding answer
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold information on attempted suicides of armed forces personnel once they have left service. However, the MOD does hold some data on former members of the armed forces who have committed suicide. This is currently published by Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) and details causes of mortality (including suicides and open verdict deaths) of veterans of the 1990-91 operation in the Gulf, together with comparative data for a matched cohort of personnel who did not deploy.
Between
The following table provides a breakdown by service, overall and for those who died within three, five and 10 years of discharge. Please note there were five records where the exit date was not available and therefore it is not possible to determine how long after discharge the death occurred:
Service | All | Within three years of discharge | Within five years of discharge | Within 10 years of discharge | Exit date not available |
All | 265 | 68 | 93 | 183 | 5 |
Royal Navy | 16 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 0 |
Army | 208 | 42 | 60 | 135 | 4 |
RAF | 41 | 25 | 28 | 36 | 1 |
The MOD is currently undertaking research into the causes of death (including suicide) among those who served in the Falklands campaign. The study will obtain death notifications to date for the cohort and will assist us in continuing to develop our support for former personnel and those leaving the services. The MOD is also undertaking a similar study on veterans of Operations Telic and Herrick. This will monitor the causes of death (including suicide) of all serving members of the armed forces from 2003 until the end of Operations in Afghanistan. The intention is to run the study for the lifetime of the cohort; therefore, the population will include both serving and discharged personnel. The MOD hopes to publish initial results in 2014.
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No0 people think not
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