Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many infant deaths have occurred in nursery or early years settings in England in each of the last five years, and what steps are being taken to reduce these incidents.

The department is responsible for setting the standards which early years settings, such as nurseries, must follow. These are set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2. The department has responsibility for policy on inspection and registration. Ofsted is responsible for implementation.

Given the sensitivity of information relating to serious childcare incidents and the need to ensure data quality, Ofsted does not publish incident-level data as routine statistics. However, Ofsted has confirmed that, in the last five financial years (2020/21 to 2024/25), there have been 11 notifications relating to child deaths in registered early years settings in England. These figures relate to notifications made to Ofsted and do not represent a determination of cause or fault, nor do they necessarily reflect the total number of child deaths.

The death of any child is extremely concerning and our thoughts are with the affected children and their families. The safety of our youngest children is our utmost priority, and the department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements for early years settings to help ensure children are kept as safe as possible.