The Bishop of Lichfield received the following written answers on 13th March 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Lichfield asked His Majesty’s Government what the average caseload of probation officers in England and Wales was in each year of the last decade.
Continue reading “Bishop of Lichfield asks about probation service and suicide in prisons”The Bishop of Lichfield received the following written answer on 12th March 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Lichfield asked His Majesty’s Government how many deaths by suicide of people on probation there were in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years.
Continue reading “Bishop of Lichfield asks about deaths by suicide of those on probation”On 28th November 2023, the Bishop of St Albans’ Private Members Bill, the Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill, was introduced in the House of Lords:
A Bill to require the coroner, following an inquest, to record an opinion as to the relevant factors in a case of death by suicide; and for connected purposes.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-president of Peers for Gambling Reform.
The Bill was introduced by the Lord Bishop of St Albans, read a first time and ordered to be printed.
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 17th October 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support the digitisation of adult social care.
Lord Markham (Con, Department for Health & Social Care): We are funding a programme of digitisation for adult social care that is delivered through integrated care systems having spent £50 million so far and investing a further £100 million over the next two years.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about adult social care services and suicide prevention methods”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 4th September 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how many deaths that occurred in England and Wales in the past four years mentioned gambling anywhere on the death certificate.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con, Cabinet Office): The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the response attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about suicides linked to gambling”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 4th September 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government:
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 11th January 2022:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how many customer suicides have been reported by gambling operators in each of the past five years.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con): The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the noble Lord’s Parliamentary Question of 21 December is attached.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about gambling related suicides”On 28th October 2022, the Bishop of St Albans brought a revised version of his Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill before the House of Lords for its second reading. The Bishop of Exeter spoke in support of the bill. The bill was read and sent to a Committee of the Whole House:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: That the Bill now be read a second time.
My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-chair of Peers for Gambling Reform.
I am glad to bring before the House the Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill, now in its third iteration. This latest version is significantly different from the previous two; it has taken on board many of His Majesty’s Government’s criticisms and attempted to resolve them. Indeed, the Minister who dealt with the Bill in the previous Session, the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, had hoped to speak today from the Back Benches but has to be in court. He has, however, given his permission to say that he supports the aims of the Bill. Because we have tried to respond to the points made by the Government, I will listen attentively to the Minister as he outlines their response, given that I believe their concerns have largely been dealt with.
The genesis of the Bill is the frustration that many of us in your Lordships’ House have felt when we have tried to bring in sensible reforms to the Wild West of online gambling, which is causing untold suffering in communities across our nation. More than a third of a million adults in our country are now diagnosed with a gambling addiction. More than 62,000 teenagers, who in law are not even allowed to gamble, have been diagnosed with a gambling problem. With an estimated more than 400,000 suicides every year due to problem gambling, we need to address this problem in a sensible way. On a number of occasions when I and other noble Lords have raised the issue in the House, the Government have resisted our attempts to bring some order to this sector, simply claiming, “We don’t understand the size of the problem.” The Bill is a proposal for one way of obtaining more data.
Continue reading “Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill: Bishop of St Albans sets out proposals; Bishop of Exeter supports”
On 7th June 2022, The Bishop of St Albans introduced his Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill on its first reading:
‘A Bill to require the coroner, following an inquest, to record an opinion as to the relevant factors in a case of death by suicide; and for connected purposes.‘
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, in moving the Bill, I declare my interest in the register as a vice-president of Peers for Gambling Reform.
The Bill was introduced by the Lord Bishop of St Albans, read a first time and ordered to be printed.
On 25th March 2022, the House of Lords debated the Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill (2021) in its third reading. The Bishop of St Albans, who had brought the bill as a private members bill, moved that the bill should pass.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: That the Bill do now pass.
My Lords, I shall make just one or two brief comments. I am sure everybody is greatly relieved that the timing is going so well this afternoon, and I really shall not delay your Lordships for too long, but this gives me an opportunity to say one or two brief things and then give some thanks.
The reason behind the Bill is that, seven or eight years ago, a couple came to see me, sat in my study and told me how their son had taken his life because of a gambling problem. The sad thing about that story was the way they talked about the fact that they could see what was happening. He had gone in and out of treatment, but they just could not reach out to him. They knew what was going to happen, and they watched as he slowly spiralled down until that fateful day when he took his life. That led me on a journey. Eventually, we managed to get a Select Committee here. As your Lordships may be aware, Peers for Gambling Reform is now, I think, the largest lobbying group in the House of Lords.
Continue reading “Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill: Bishop of St Albans moves to pass bill”
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