110 child deaths were 'preventable'

Of 2,000 deaths recorded between April 1 2008 and March 31 this year, 110 were deemed to be preventable.

The South West of England had the highest proportion of deaths which could have been stopped (15%) and the North West had the lowest (2%), according to the figures released on Thursday.

Reviews of child deaths became compulsory in April last year as part of the Government's response to criticisms which followed the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie.

Baroness Morgan said: "Every death of a child is a tragedy and the Government is focusing relentlessly on children's safety to drive improvements in practice and continue to learn lessons.

"That is why we introduced a new duty on local authorities to review all child deaths, enabling lessons to be learnt and action taken to prevent deaths in the future.

"England is the first country in the world to have implemented a multi-agency reviewing system on a national basis and this first year has included a wide range of causes, from deaths due to illness and road traffic accidents to suicides and murders."

She said that lessons are being learned from the reviews, for example one local authority is working to stop a series of suicides among young people.

Baroness Morgan continued: "We will continue to work with all local areas to improve the safety of children and young people, including from the threats of abuse and neglect, accidents, bullying and anti-social behaviour.

"It is all our responsibilities to make sure we are doing all we can to keep our children safe."