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Courts could be made to take the risk of self-harm into account when sentencing vulnerable offenders to custody.

In response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights' third report on deaths in custody, the government said the recommendation had been put to the Sentencing Guidance Council for consideration.

The committee recommended that magistrates and judges should receive feedback on sentencing decisions, including when offenders sentenced to custody self-harmed or committed suicide.

However, the government refused the committee's call for a public inquiry into the death of 16-year-old Joseph Scholes, who hanged himself at Stoke Heath Young Offender Institution in March 2002.