§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Solicitor General what steps the Government has taken since the statement on 20 January, Official Report, column 1215, on unexplained infant deaths, to (a) identify civil cases and (b) learn from these cases; and if she will make a statement. [167812]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe process of identifying prosecutions which may be affected by the Appeal Court's judgment in the appeal against conviction of Angela Cannings has been completed. Since the Appeal Court's judgment on 19 January the 300 relevant cases have been identified, of which 86 involve defendants in custody. There are three stages to the review process. To date, 167 cases have been reviewed and I will be in a position to tell the House the outcome of those reviews very shortly.
Of the 16 ongoing prosecutions which may have been affected by the Cannings judgment, all have been reviewed and two have been discontinued. A Hampshire case was discontinued before trial and a Coventry case was discontinued before a retrial.
1674WAny lessons to be learnt from the review will be considered at the conclusion of the review process.