Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of recent trends in annual statistics on unexplained deaths in infancy; what steps his Department is taking to encourage further reductions in the rates of such deaths; and if he will make a statement.

Any death of a baby is tragic; unexplained deaths are especially distressing for the families.

The Government is pleased the unexplained infant death rate has reduced and will continue to work to further reduce the risk of sudden infant death. The Department has included advice about the risk of sudden infant death in the Healthy Child Programme, the universal programme for all children from the start of life. Through the programme, health visitors provide advice and support to help parents care better for their child, including information on sudden infant death such as advice on sleeping positions and co-sleeping and room temperature. We are committed to having an extra 4,200 extra health visitors by 2015.

In addition, comprehensive advice for parents about reducing the risk of cot death is available on the NHS Choices website. The website provides a wealth of information relating to pregnancy, maternity and the early years, including an interactive Pregnancy Care Planner, the Birth to Five guide and a range of videos. This information is linked to by the Start4Life/NHS Information Service for Parents, a free digital service for parents which provides regular National Health Service and other quality assured advice for both mothers and fathers on a wide range of issues including how to reduce the risk of cot death.

We have made reducing infant mortality an area of improvement for the NHS in the NHS Outcomes Framework. Reducing infant mortality is also highlighted as an outcome indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.