§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 March,Official Report, column 70, what is the reason for the increase in the second half of the 1980s in the percentage of incidents, involving children injured in fires related to bedding, where the outcome was the death of the child.
§ Mr. John PattenThe available information given in the following table suggests the main source and cause is 207W playing with matches. However, the number of deaths are
Supposed cause and source of accidental dwelling fires attended by local authority fire brigades, where the material first ignited was bedding1and children aged under five died, 1981–89 (United Kingdom) Number of deaths. Source and cause 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Matches: playing with fire — 3 1 1 8 12 8 7 5 careless handling — 2 — — — — 2 2 — Smokers' material: playing with fire 1 2 1 — — — 2 — — careless handling — 2 — 1 — — 1 — 3 misuse of equipment — — — — — — — — 1 Electric space heaters: placing articles too near 1 — 1 2 2 — 1 — 1 misuse of equipment 2 — 2 — — 1 — 1 — cause unspecified — — — — — — 2 — — Gas space heaters: placing articles too near — — — — — — — — 1 Electric blanket: misuse of equipment 1 — — 1 — 1 — — — fault in appliance 1 — — — — — — — 1 Total 6 9 5 5 10 14 16 10 12 1 bedding is defined as all bedding on the bed including mattress covers, but not beds or mattresses, or cases where the electrical insulation of an electric blanket was recorded as first ignited. Source: Home Office Fire Statistics—(They are based on reports from fire brigades).