Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood

Sharon Hodgson Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Mrs Sharon Hodgson)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) for securing a debate on such an important issue. I am grateful to him for opening the debate during SUDC Awareness Month, a time dedicated to remembering children who have died suddenly and without explanation.

I also thank my hon. Friend for sharing Frankie’s story; it was profoundly moving to hear about it, as it was to hear all the contributions this morning. I want to acknowledge the courage of Frankie’s family in turning such devastating loss into a call for understanding and change. Frankie was clearly a much-loved little boy, as are all the children who are lost to SUDC, and no family should have to live with unanswered questions about why their child died. I am grateful to Frankie’s grandfather and SUDC UK for their determination in making sure that unexplained never means unexamined. I recognise the importance of the leadership, co-ordination and clarity that they are asking for.

It is important to me that we strengthen our understanding of SUDC and ensure that families can access the right support when they need it. This Government set out an ambitious commitment to raise the healthiest generation of children ever. To achieve that, we must ensure that families receive the best support and advice on all matters relating to child health, including SUDC.

I thank all hon. Members for their powerful and moving speeches and interventions today. I turn to some of the specific issues raised. I recognise the calls from a number of Members for a national plan. That is why we are strengthening pathology services, ensuring high-quality bereavement support and a growing research base. As that works progresses, we will continue listening to families, clinicians and researchers about where further improvements are needed.

My hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster Central (Sally Jameson) asked me about bereavement leave, and made a very strong case. I will commit to raising that with Department for Business and Trade Ministers as a priority. I will also raise the issue of police and paramedic training, which my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Rand) raised, with the relevant Departments and Ministers. Both my hon. Friends raised very important issues.

My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (Sarah Hall) asked about the implementation of the recommendations in the paediatric and perinatal pathology workforce report. I will write to her on that, and on the four points she called for in particular.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen for highlighting that information on SUDC was taken down from the NHS website. Parents who have lost a child to SUDC should be able to access the advice and support that they need. I have already asked my officials to investigate that and explore opportunities to include signposting on the NHS website.

No family should ever have to experience the loss of a child, as so many of us in this Chamber today have. It is vital all of us have access to compassionate and timely support when the worst happens. The child death review process ensures that every child’s death is understood sensitively and thoroughly, and is vital in helping families to understand what happened to their child. While bereavement support is commissioned locally to reflect the needs of each community, there is clear national best practice that sets out that every bereaved family should have a key worker to guide them through a time of inconceivable loss and heartbreak. That key worker helps to provide clarity, information and kindness, and helps families to access further sources of support where needed. We also encourage anyone seeking help to contact their GP, who can also guide them to appropriate services.

I also want to thank some of the wonderful organisations and charities across the country, such as SUDC UK, the Lullaby Trust, Cruse Bereavement Support and the Good Grief Trust, which provide exceptional support to families experiencing this devastating loss. Alongside that, the National Bereavement Alliance has published updated voluntary service standards to support continuous improvement in the quality of care. Putting the needs of children and their families first is at the heart of everything I will do in my role as a Minister. We will continue working with partners to ensure that bereaved families receive the compassion and support they deserve.

As we have heard today in detail, pathology waiting times can add to the distress experienced by families at a critical time when they need answers quickly. As was highlighted by the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett), who speaks for the Liberal Democrats, there is a nationwide shortage of paediatric pathologists in England and Wales, which can affect the time taken to complete pathology testing following a coronial post-mortem. To address that, NHS England has launched a national programme to strengthen perinatal and paediatric pathology services. The Government have made more than £2 million-worth of additional funding available to increase post-mortem capacity. That has increased training posts and the number of trainee doctors and new pathologists.

Alongside that, genomic testing for SUDC is available through the NHS genomic medicine service. Decisions about whether genomic testing is appropriate are made after the post-mortem and through careful discussions with specialist multidisciplinary teams. NHS England closely monitors how genomic testing is delivered across the country, so that it can spot where services differ and work with local teams to improve services. That helps to ensure families can benefit from high-quality, consistent services where they live. Taken together, these steps will help to ensure that families receive timely, high-quality investigations at moments of profound difficulty, while supporting the workforce who deliver this critical service.

As hon. Members have said, SUDC remains an under-researched area, and I agree that we must do more to deepen our understanding. The Government remain open to funding high-quality research into SUDC through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, and we welcome applications on any aspect of child health, including SUDC.

For example, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen for raising the great work of Bristol University in hosting the national child mortality database and child mortality analysis unit. The Government’s support for the national child mortality database has already made a meaningful difference by bringing together national-level data on all child deaths in England and allowing a far greater understanding of deaths in children over the age of one.

I am encouraged to see that, building on that foundation, the University of Bristol has secured funding from SUDC UK for the Pioneer SUDC study. This will help to shape future research questions and contribute to deeper learning in this under-explored area. As this growing body of evidence develops, it will allow experts to identify where research can have the greatest impact and where gaps remain, including in areas such as febrile seizures. I thank my hon. Friend for raising that area today, because it is definitely one we need to look at.

[Jim Shannon]

On research, I will make a plea for Queen’s University Belfast, as I always do in such debates, because it does incredible work. It is not the only university that does so; many universities across this United Kingdom do so as well. Will the Minister engage with Queen’s University Belfast and other universities to ensure that the necessary research can be achieved and thereby save lives?

[Mrs Hodgson]

Yes. I thank the hon. Member for his very moving speech; he often moves me to tears in moments such as this. I will take that away, and ask my officials to look at the work of Queen’s University Belfast, because he makes a very important point.

The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson), made a couple of points. I will write to her on the Government’s responses to recommendations, because it is a valid point and one that we should be aware of in future. On the point about ICBs making services more effective by cutting duplication and making sure we have the right people in the right places to deliver quality services, that is something I will also be paying particular attention to, as the Minister with responsibility for children’s health.

[Dr Caroline Johnson]

My point was less that mergers of ICBs would make services more efficient, but more that that is leading to services being cut, which may make them less good, and that the principle that CDOPs look at the local area is diluted if the local area becomes very large.

[Mrs Hodgson]

I take on board what the hon. Lady says. When I write to her on the point about responses to recommendations, I will elaborate further on that point, having made sure that I have understood it correctly.

[Lincoln Jopp]

The Minister is very generous with her time, and I am grateful to her for that. She welcomed the research funded by the SUDC UK in Bristol, but I do not think we have heard any commitment to Government-funded research into this area. Will she clarify whether she will take that forward?

[Mrs Hodgson]

I think I may have mentioned some Government-funded research, but I will commit to write to the hon. Gentleman on that point, rather than try to guess what I may have said.

In closing, I again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen for bringing forward this debate, and all hon. Members for their heartbreaking speeches. Those of us here today who have had the privilege of taking part in this debate will never forget them and the names of the children either: Frankie, Miranda, Jack, Louis and Harry—as well as all the other precious children who we have lost to SUDC. The names, families and circumstances mentioned today are all in Hansard now forever. I want to thank all the families in the Public Gallery for being with us today and for their campaigning for change, research and better support.

A number of Members here today recognise that drive because it is what drove us here ourselves. I take on board the plea from the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) to ensure that we see progress and do not all find ourselves back here in a few years’ time having the same debate. We will continue to work with clinicians, researchers, charities and—above all else—families to deepen our understanding, strengthen the support available, and ensure that every child’s death is fully examined and that their life is never forgotten.

[Sir John Hayes (in the Chair)]

Thank you, Minister. Before I call on Andy to wind up, I echo the thanks to all Members for contributing to this important debate. I also particularly thank all those who have taken time to attend in the Public Gallery. Thank you so much.