The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 9 May 2008:"As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many and what proportion of children under the age of (a) three, (b) five and (c) 16 died in each year since 1997. (202849)""The total number of deaths and rate per 100,000 for children under the age of (a) three, (b) five and (c) 16 in each year from 1997 to 2006 for England and Wales are shown in the attached table." Deaths in children by age, England and Wales, 1997-2006¹ Number of deaths Rate per 100,000 population of the same age Under 3 Under 5 Under 16 Under 3 Under 5 Under 16 1997 4,306 4,545 5,711 223 139 54 1998 4,095 4,321 5,415 214 134 51 1999 4,136 4,351 5,388 217 136 51 2000 3,777 4,001 4,965 203 127 47 2001 3,655 3,868 4,891 202 125 47 2002 3,550 3,737 4,724 199 123 45 2003 3,683 3,894 4,862 206 129 47 2004 3,641 3,826 4,725 200 127 46 2005 3,616 3,767 4,647 193 123 45 2006 3,760 3,927 4,814 196 126 47 ¹ Data are for registrations of death in each calendar year.