Uncertainty over child neglect deaths

The Government does not know exactly how many youngsters are dying from neglect while under the watch of social workers, its children's champion has admitted.

Shock new figures released by Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo show the deaths of some 18,232 youngsters aged four and under were registered in total by local authorities in England and Wales between 2004 and 2008.

This includes 770 in Birmingham, 276 in Staffordshire, 192 in Sandwell, 169 in Walsall, 116 in Wolverhampton, 110 in Dudley and 141 in Shropshire in the five year period.

But Ms Primarolo confessed she did not know how many of these deaths were attributable to neglect or a lack of parental care – and how many of the youngsters had been monitored by council children's or social services before their death.

Responding to a probe into child deaths by Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne in a written parliamentary answer, Miss Primarolo said: "Over that period only one death of a child aged under five was registered as having an underlying cause of "neglect or abandonment" (This category excludes children aged under 28 days).

"It is not possible, however, to determine the number of cases where neglect was a factor in deaths registered as being due to other underlying causes.

"Data on the number of child deaths where the child was being provided with a service from their local authority's children's social care at the time of the death is not collected centrally," she added.

Research by the NSPCC based on a sample of an Ofsted analysis into the deaths of 174 children last year, found neglect at some point in the lives of 50 of those who had died.

Most cases involved children under six years old. Ten babies died of sudden unexpected death in infancy, of whom seven were known to children's services.

The charity warned that while high-profile cases involving fatal physical abuse attracted widespread attention, the less obvious issue of neglect was becoming a major concern for those working in child protection.

Neglect can take many forms, such as withholding water and food from a child, depriving them of play, barring them from attending school or keeping them in badly heated rooms in filthy clothes.

David Laws, Lib Dem children's spokesman, said: "It is worrying that the Government seems to collect very little information available on the deaths of young children.

This is why it's so important that serious case reviews are published, with names and personal details anonymised.

We need this information so that we can be sure lessons are learned when things have gone tragically wrong.

"The revelation comes just weeks after a High Court judge ruled seven-year-old Birmingham girl Khyra Ishaq, who was starved to death by her mother, might still be alive if she had not been failed by social services.Six social workers at Birmingham City Council have been sacked over failings in the children's services department.

Eight children known to social services have died in the city in three years.