§ Mr. MossTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the survey by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys of the annual rates of cot deaths for 1990 and 1991.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe latest annual figures published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys show that the rate of sudden infant death (or cot death) in England and Wales fell from 1.93 per 1,000 live births in 1989 to 1.70 in 1990, and again to 1.44 in 1991.
Towards the end of last year, the Government ran a successful media campaign to reduce the risk of cot death. Called the "Back to Sleep" campaign, it highlighted new evidence that the risk of cot death can be reduced if babies are laid to sleep on their back or sides, rather than on their stomachs.
It is a measure of the success of the Government's campaign that the number of cot deaths which occurred in the month of December 1991 was about half the number which occurred in the previous December.
A nationwide confidential enquiry into stillbirths and deaths in infancy has been established. It will help us find out more about why some babies die and make us better able to prevent this happening in the future.