§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what statistical information is collected by his 291W Department regarding the incidence of cot deaths; for how many years information has been collected; what has been the annual number of cot deaths recorded; what information there is on the incidence of cot deaths following vaccination; how many cot deaths have been noted as occurring within (a) 24, (b) 48, (c) 72 and (d) seven days following vaccination; and over what period these deaths occurred.
§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 27 January 1987]: Since 1971 the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys has identified deaths in the first year of life registered in England and Wales where the term "sudden unexpected death in infancy" or "cot death" or similar term was mentioned on the death certificate, or was given as the underlying cause of death. Very few sudden infant deaths occur after one year of age. The number of such mentions each year since 1971 is given in the table.
No information is collected centrally linking sudden infant deaths with vaccinations.
Cot deaths (any mention) England and Wales Number 1971 489 1972 771 1973 922 1974 932 1975 912 1976 879 1977 911 1978 971 1979 1,079 1980 1,222 1981 1,265 1982 1,332 1983 1,315 1984 1,242 1985 1,301