Cot Deaths (Hansard, 20 July 1984)

Baroness Vickers
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Glenarthur)
My Lords, we are of course concerned about the incidence of cot deaths and the need for more information, but the latest figures we have about sudden infant deaths suggest that the numbers are not as high as the noble Baroness suggests. The department has sponsored, at a cost of over a quarter of a million pounds, research aimed at identifying those babies most at risk and isolating any avoidable factors which may have contributed to known cot deaths.
The Medical Research Council is the Government's main agency for the promotion of medical research and it supports work which may be relevant to cot deaths through its research grants scheme.

Baroness Vickers
My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord the Minister for that reply, may I ask him whether he knows that every day in the United Kingdom there are five cot deaths? The babies die suddenly, silently and unexpectedly, with no known reason. Intensive research into the causes of cot deaths and the prevention of them is being carried out by an organisation which is funded by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths. It is an independent and voluntary organisation. We should like the Minister to encourage the health authorities to collaborate with this fund in its research to help identify children at risk and to provide extra primary health care to those at greatest risk.

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, certainly I share all my noble friend's views on how awful it is for all those who are concerned with cot deaths. The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths plays a key role in promoting research into sudden infant deaths, and the department encourages the foundation in its work. To help the foundation cope with an increased demand for its welfare and counselling activities, we have awarded a grant of £10,000 towards the cost of appointing a full-time professional officer. I hope that my noble friend will find that encouraging.

Lady Saltoun
My Lords, I know of a case where a cot death was prevented by prompt action. I should like to ask the noble Lord whether he would not agree that the apparent increase in cot deaths in recent years may be due to the fact that babies sleep less and less in the same room as their parents and more and more in separate rooms, which was not possible in the old days of overcrowded housing.

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, that may be true in regard to a small proportion of sudden infant deaths. The fact is that there is no precise cause of cot deaths, or at least none which has been isolated so far. In fact, there may be several associated factors.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, I should like to ask the noble Lord the Minister whether, in this matter, there is any particular relationship in terms of areas, in the same way as there is in perinatal deaths. Is there any particular known distribution, or any factor of that type, which might have an effect in this matter?

§ Lord Glenarthur
No, my Lords, I do not think there is. Perinatal deaths are another matter, but in regard to cot deaths, there does not apppear to be any particular geographical disposition.

§ Lord Ennals
My Lords, the Minister referred to the Medical Research Council, which of course has the main and central responsibility for research into this very disturbing problem. Is he aware that Professor John Davies and Dr. Colin Morley of Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, submitted three projects for support from the Medical Research Council, costing, in all, £225,000? They received a grant of £4,500, which was a drop in the ocean. As I understand it, that was because of the inadequacy of DHSS funding. They are highly reputable researchers. Would not the Minister, together with his right honourable friend, look at this with some sense of urgency, because here is a problem the answer to which he himself admitted is not clear? Here are highly qualified people prepared to launch research in this field.

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, Dr. Morley's current work is in the field of infant lung coatings and respiratory distress syndrome among premature babies, rather than in the field of what is commonly referred to as cot deaths. The Medical Research Council declined to fund his recent application to pursue a hypothesis linking this work with cot deaths. That decision was made on scientific grounds. It is unfortunate that the current Medical Research Council funded work should have been so firmly identified in the media with cot deaths. I think there has been misrepresentation to some extent.

§ Lord Ennals
My Lords, with respect, and following on from that, as I mentioned, there were three projects, and the Minister has referred to only one of them. Is he aware that the Medical Research Council was prepared to fund the other two had funds been available?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, I am afraid that the noble Lord is not correct on that. The fact is that the three proposals were not connected with cot deaths. One was merely linked with them.

§ Lord Ferrier
My Lords, is it not a fact that there is talk in Edinburgh of the discontinuance of some very guid-going research into this problem by the Edinburgh Medical School, due to financial shortage?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, I am not aware of that. but certainly I shall look into it.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, would the noble Lord not agree that if one goes back to the statistics regarding infantile deaths in the period before the last local government reorganisation, when the medical officers of health for the local authorities used to submit their annual reports, one sees that the horrendous figures for infantile deaths then arose mainly from the overcrowded and deprived areas of the inner cities? Is it not a fact that we have moved away quite a lot from the horrendous figures of that era?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, as I said in answer to the noble Lady, Lady Saltoun, there are many factors which lead to these deaths, and I dare say that the factors to which the noble Lord has referred are included. But a great deal of important data has been brought together on the subject, and officials at the Department of Health are considering with a team at Sheffield how the material can be best further analysed and exploited. Following their report, which is expected by the end of the year, the department is intending to sponsor a seminar to discuss possible future studies based on the information which is now available.

Lord Morris
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that in the case of premature and frail babies the monitoring of breathing is standard practice by means of a very simple electronic device? Would my noble friend be good enough to look into this matter and find out whether it would be possible for Her Majesty's Government to encourage the production and distribution of this very simple device to mothers who have a problem monitoring the condition of their children?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, with respect, I think that that is possibly another question, because when it comes to sudden infant deaths, if the child is not well anyway then presumably he will be under the care of his own doctor.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, I should like to ask the Minister whether some of the research has shown that cot deaths have been contributed to by overheating and by the babies being cocooned in bedclothes and not being able to move, or by the fact that they have been too cold? Is the importance of temperature control and the right temperature passed on to prospective parents?

§ Lord Glenarthur
My Lords, that may well be one of the factors that contribute to some of these cot deaths, but we do not really know. So far as passing on that 1742 type of information to parents is concerned, that is something which should be done by the people who look after the mothers and the children concerned, and I am sure that they will note the remarks which have been made by the noble Baroness.

§ Lord Ferrier
My Lords, I believe that the Edinburgh inquiry to which I referred is concerned with the question which the noble Baroness has asked.