§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died in care since 1992; and what proportion of these deaths have been of people from ethnic minorities. [147535]
§ Margaret HodgeThe estimated number of children who died in care in England during the ten year period 1 April 1992 to 31 March 2002 was 620.
We believe that quite a large proportion of the children who died in care were severely disabled children or children with chronic illnesses being looked after in hospices/hospitals because they are too ill to be at home.
Information on the number of children in care by ethnic origin has only been collected for the last 2 years from a one in three sample. The number of deaths to such children in ethnic minorities over that period are very small and therefore it is not possible to produce a reliable estimate of the proportion.