Suicides in Dorset County by age, sex, and method

​FOI REF: FOI/2023/5091

You asked

I would like to request statistical data on: 

a. How many deaths were ruled as suicides in the Dorset County area in 2000 and 2023. 

b. How many deaths ruled to be a suicide had the gender male, female or other in the Dorset County area. 

c. How many suicides were 24 years and under? And how many of those were male, female or other in the Dorset County area. 

d. What was the method used for these suicide deaths in the Dorset County Area? 

e. How many deaths are registered for each area in Dorset County? Can a breakdown of the area and statistics please be provided? (I.e Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester, Swanage etc)

We said

Thank you for your enquiry. 

Our Suicides in England and Wales by local authority  provides deaths registered as suicide by local authority for 2001 to 2021. The area is based on the persons usual residence as provided by the informant upon registration in England and Wales. Figures for England and Wales combined (area code K04000001) include death of non-residents. However, all other geographical areas exclude death of non-residents and are based on the latest available postcode boundaries (February 2022). 

In 2020 there were 33 deaths registered and in 2021 there were 45 deaths registered with a cause of death as suicide in the Dorset area. 

Our NOMIS webservice will provide a breakdown by 5-year age group and sex.  Please see the associated download, which contains an output for 2020 and 2021. This will provide a breakdown of deaths due to the leading cause of LC41 Suicide and injury/poisoning of undetermined intent. 

Please note: When using NOMIS to protect the confidentiality of individuals, small counts output for areas below region level are rounded; counts of 0, 1, and 2 are rounded to 0, while counts of 3, 4, and 5 are rounded to 5. Therefore, the age breakdown numbers may not match the annual figure to the rounding up or suppression applied.  This is in line with our disclosure control policy. 

Due to the low numbers, we are unable to provide disaggregation by method or small geographies such as Weymouth and Portland. These figures are redacted to protect the confidentiality of individuals. This is consistent with the disclosure control methodology used for deaths. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) which renders it an offence to disclose information held by the Statistics Board for statistical purposes that would identify an individual or a body corporate. As we are prohibited by law from publishing statistics in which individual businesses or persons can be identified, Section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies. 

2022 and 2023 death registrations 

We hold the following analysis Deaths caused by suicide by quarter in England which provides provisional data for England. The latest data available is October to December 2022. However, this publication does not have geographical breakdown. 

Suicides are reported in arrears due to registration delays due to referral to Coroner's office for investigation. The registration delay refers to the time lag between the date of death (that is, when the death occurred) and the date the death was registered. For further information on the impact of registration delays, see Section 7 of our Suicide rates in the UK quality and methodology information (QMI). Registration delays for deaths due to suicide tend to be 5 to 6 months on average. 

Annual data for 2022 will be published in September/October 2023 to allow the inclusion of late registrations. 2023 data will be published in the following year. 

As such, the information you have requested after 2021 by age and sex for the Dorset County area is exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. As a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration, and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions. 

This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.