HC Deb 21 February 2000 vol 344 cc784-5W
Mr. Oaten

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department's sponsored research into sudden unexpected deaths in infancy made of the incidence of deaths among(a) children sleeping on a mattress that was new for that child and (b) children sleeping on a mattress that had been previously used by other children. [111163]

Yvette Cooper

The Expert Group to Investigate Cot Death Theories, Chaired by Lady Limerick, looked at the data from the "Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy/Sudden Unexpected Deaths in Infancy" study, relating to age of mattress. They found that this could not be used either to support or reject the hypothesis that older mattresses were more dangerous. They thus made no recommendations in this area. Copies of the Expert Group's report have been placed in the Library.