Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of what can be done to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Prevention and early intervention are paramount to preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and we want to ensure that every family receives the support and guidance they need during the early days of parenthood.

Health visitors have an important role supporting child health, wellbeing, and parenting confidence. They support families in improving health literacy, managing minor illnesses, and preventing accidents, including promoting safe sleeping for babies. Health visitors can also work with early years services to ensure that safer sleep messages are promoted across early years services. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-of-public-health-services-for-children/early-years-high-impact-area-5-improving-health-literacy-managing-minor-illnesses-and-reducing-accidents

The Department is also working alongside NHS England and the National Child Mortality Database (NMCD) to increase the data bank on SIDS, to increase our evidence base, understanding, and inform actions and policy.