Suicide Rates by months 2019/20

The request was successful.

Dear Transport for London,

Would it be possible if you could give me some updates on the figures you have published on your site in regards to the suicide rates.

On your site you say figures are recorded by financial year rather than calendar year. The number given for the current financial year, 2018/19 is up to the end of January.

Would it be possible to get the data on the amount of suicides for the following months please.

January 2019
February 2019
March 2019
April 2019
May 2019
June 2019
July 2019
August 2019
September 2019
October 2019
November 2019
December 2019

January 2020
February 2020
March 2020
April 2020

Yours faithfully,

Junior Linden

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Linden,

 

TfL Ref: FOI-0056-2021

 

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 9^th
April 2020 asking for suicide data by month.

 

The Government has announced a series of measures to tackle the
Coronavirus. It is essential for London, and in particular for all
critical workers, that we continue to provide a safe transport network
that enables them to make the journeys they need to.

 

In current circumstances, we are not able to answer FOI requests readily
and we ask that you please do not make a request to us at present.

 

Answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the
attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. In
any event, please note that our response time will be affected by the
current situation and so you may wish to reconsider the timing of this
request. Please notify us as soon as possible if you would like to
withdraw your request at the current time.

 

Should you wish to proceed with the request we will aim to issue a
response by 12th May 2020 in accordance with the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 and our information access policy. We publish a substantial range
of information on our website on subjects including operational
performance, contracts, expenditure, journey data, governance and our
financial performance. This includes data which is frequently asked for in
FOI requests or other public queries. Please check
[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transpar... to see if this helps you.

 

We will publish anonymised versions of requests and responses on the
[2]www.tfl.gov.uk website. We will not publish your name and we will send
a copy of the response to you before it is published on our website.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Please go ahead and process my request by the 20th May 2020.

thank you

Yours sincerely,

Junior Linden

FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Linden,

 

TfL Ref: FOI-0056-2021

 

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 9^th
April 2020 asking for suicide data by month.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

 

Specifically you asked:

 

“Would it be possible if you could give me some updates on the figures you
have published on your site in regards to the suicide rates.

 

On your site you say figures are recorded by financial year rather than
calendar year. The number given for the current financial year, 2018/19 is
up to the end of January.

 

Would it be possible to get the data on the amount of suicides for the
following months please.

 

January 2019

February 2019

March 2019

April 2019

May 2019

June 2019

July 2019

August 2019

September 2019

October 2019

November 2019

December 2019

January 2020

February 2020

March 2020

April 2020.”

 

I can confirm that we hold the information you require. TfL reports over a
4-week period rather than by calendar month. The data for all periods in
2018/19 and 2019/20 are shown in the table below. Period 1 begins on 1^st
April with period 13 ending on 31^st March. We record these incidents as
‘attempted suicides’, and the data includes fatal and non-fatal incidences
(as we do not always know whether a suspected suicide attempt was fatal or
not).

 

18/19 19/20
Period 1 2 2
P2 7 4
P3 3 2
P4 6 3
P5 8 3
P6 5 4
P7 3 6
P8 2 1
P9 4 5
P10 3 4
P11 5 2
P12 6 6
P13 2 3
TOTAL: 56 45

 

Note that the Tube can support over five million customer journeys per
day. Our first priority is the safety of all our customers, staff and
others travelling or working on our network. We provide training to our
staff on how to identify and give the appropriate support to any customers
who appear to be in distress or who are acting in a way which would
identify them as high risk of suicide. We have worked closely with mental
health organisations on developing training material to give staff even
more knowledge about the signs to look out for and the confidence to
intervene. We also work with Network Rail and other train operating
companies to share information and approaches to managing incidents of
suicide on the railway.

 

The Samaritans provide support for people affected by suicide or who may
be having suicidal thoughts. They advise “We're here round the clock, 24
hours a day, 365 days a year. If you need a response immediately, it's
best to call us on the phone. This number is FREE to call. You don't have
to be suicidal to call us.”

 

We also work closely with the British Transport Police (BTP) and the
emergency services to ensure a coordinated response to incidents. We have
introduced a ‘blue light’ response for the Emergency Response Unit with a
police driver supplied by the BTP. We also have the Network Incident
Response Team which includes a BTP Police Medical Officer with a LU
Network Incident Response Manager.

 

Additionally, there has been a notable improvement in medical intervention
in these cases which enables paramedic first aid to be given on site and
enhance the survival rate.

 

If this is not the information you are looking for please do not hesitate
to contact me.

 

On a more general matter, please note that the Government has announced a
series of measures to tackle the Coronavirus. It is essential for London,
and in particular for all critical workers, that we continue to provide a
safe transport network that enables them to make the journeys they need
to.

 

In current circumstances, we are not able to answer FOI requests readily
and we ask that you please do not make a request to us at present.

 

Answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the
attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. In
any event, please note that our response time will be affected by the
current situation.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

show quoted sections