[holding answer 3 February 2010]: Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for each of the last five years from 2004 show that 3,591, 3,561, 3,716, 3,665, and 3,699 deaths of children aged 0 to four were registered each year in England and Wales. The following table gives the number of such deaths by local authority area.
Over that period only one death of a child aged under five was registered as having an underlying cause of “neglect and abandonment”. (This category excludes children aged under 28 days.) It is not possible however to determine the number of cases where neglect was a factor in deaths registered as being due to other underlying causes.
Data on the number of child deaths where the child was being provided with a service from their local authority's children's social care at the time of the death are not collected centrally.
Deaths (children) Local authority 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Barking and Dagenham 21 14 21 19 22 Barnet 16 33 15 19 26 Barnsley 20 13 17 13 7 Bath and North East Somerset 10 4 12 10 5 Bedfordshire 23 33 24 19 30 Bexley 18 13 13 13 13 Birmingham 155 137 167 154 157 Blackburn with Darwen 15 23 19 22 17 Blackpool 9 9 19 12 10 Bolton 26 29 34 24 31 Bournemouth 8 13 10 7 7 Bracknell Forest 4 8 8 8 9 Bradford 52 84 71 88 77 Brent 22 24 32 29 38 Brighton and Hove 23 19 21 18 16 Bristol, City of 33 30 28 28 42 Bromley 20 13 15 14 15 Buckinghamshire 25 30 25 35 33 Bury 16 11 13 11 9 Calderdale 19 19 15 18 20 Cambridgeshire 30 29 35 34 40 Camden 21 19 13 13 12 Cheshire 46 39 43 38 43 City of London and Hackney 19 29 24 32 31 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 31 29 26 27 28 Coventry 37 22 22 27 41 Croydon 23 41 36 29 34 Cumbria 25 21 28 24 27 Darlington 7 8 13 10 10 Derby 18 15 12 26 26 Derbyshire 54 33 40 33 44 Devon 41 36 32 38 28 Doncaster 20 29 30 26 27 Dorset 18 22 19 19 15 Dudley 14 28 26 14 28 Durham 27 33 34 28 25 Ealing 21 24 30 20 24 East Riding of Yorkshire 22 15 10 11 16 East Sussex 27 19 33 25 35 Enfield 24 32 35 31 28 Essex 70 62 73 85 75 Gateshead 9 14 18 15 16 Gloucestershire 33 32 28 35 28 Greenwich 29 16 29 27 19 Halton 11 11 12 15 9 Hammersmith and Fulham 9 14 13 9 11 Hampshire 55 47 59 58 52 Haringey 33 34 30 23 25 Harrow 20 31 15 17 12 Hartlepool 8 3 11 15 3 Havering 11 6 15 10 8 Herefordshire, County of 9 12 8 6 10 Hertfordshire 55 62 50 58 73 Hillingdon 15 15 20 27 16 Hounslow 22 24 12 26 24 Isle of Wight 7 1 6 6 8 Islington 21 17 20 15 15 Kensington and Chelsea 4 9 7 9 5 Kent 68 83 78 74 77 Kingston upon Hull, City of 15 16 29 15 25 Kingston upon Thames 13 9 8 5 3 Kirklees 46 41 46 42 43 Knowsley 13 11 5 10 12 Lambeth 31 31 28 28 29 Lancashire 89 93 88 82 84 Leeds 50 66 61 61 52 Leicester 33 30 37 41 34 Leicestershire 18 44 43 35 34 Lewisham 18 29 23 20 35 Lincolnshire 47 38 40 45 44 Liverpool 33 46 36 33 35 Luton 22 21 28 26 24 Manchester 58 58 41 64 60 Medway 24 14 17 15 13 Merton 18 13 21 11 15 Middlesbrough 11 15 8 10 14 Milton Keynes 20 20 22 16 24 Newcastle upon Tyne 21 18 12 11 23 Newham 53 28 45 43 28 Norfolk 41 42 44 47 41 North East Lincolnshire 8 11 13 17 12 North Lincolnshire 12 13 12 6 10 North Somerset 9 6 10 10 10 North Tyneside 10 9 8 9 5 North Yorkshire 28 29 23 27 24 Northamptonshire 56 41 53 50 49 Northumberland 6 10 10 23 11 Nottingham 27 29 37 29 19 Nottinghamshire 44 38 46 49 49 Oldham 26 17 27 22 23 Oxfordshire 39 33 41 31 39 Peterborough 12 23 23 20 17 Plymouth 15 17 13 21 17 Poole 8 6 8 8 10 Portsmouth 13 10 10 11 15 Reading 18 17 14 17 25 Redbridge 26 20 29 28 19 Redcar and Cleveland 16 7 13 6 5 Richmond upon Thames 7 11 6 9 6 Rochdale 14 17 22 21 19 Rotherham 28 20 17 22 26 Rutland 1 3 2 1 4 Salford 17 17 20 21 23 Sandwell 32 37 39 37 47 Sefton 10 25 14 7 12 Sheffield 44 34 45 54 34 Shropshire 14 12 13 16 19 Slough 10 16 16 16 22 Solihull 9 14 15 10 20 Somerset 28 24 23 26 27 South Gloucestershire 16 9 16 7 5 South Tyneside 7 7 12 8 5 Southampton 7 15 14 14 21 Southend-on-Sea 9 9 10 8 6 Southwark 33 23 34 48 36 St. Helens 12 16 21 11 12 Staffordshire 48 55 53 70 50 Stockport 22 18 10 16 18 Stockton-on-Tees 21 8 14 11 15 Stoke-on-Trent 33 34 25 23 21 Suffolk 48 25 28 47 41 Sunderland 26 8 16 19 10 Surrey 40 51 48 55 49 Sutton 10 12 12 9 18 Swindon 17 12 10 14 15 Tameside 11 10 20 12 20 Telford and Wrekin 12 10 17 6 22 Thurrock 8 9 17 16 14 Torbay 6 10 8 6 6 Tower Hamlets 20 20 20 25 15 Trafford 7 9 14 15 12 Wakefield 26 27 22 19 32 Walsall 37 36 28 32 36 Waltham Forest 36 24 31 24 27 Wandsworth 15 29 20 19 23 Warrington 14 14 12 10 14 Warwickshire 39 32 21 29 36 West Berkshire 8 9 13 11 8 West Sussex 38 31 51 41 35 Westminster 17 16 18 12 8 Wigan 14 19 31 23 19 Wiltshire 20 22 24 14 31 Windsor and Maidenhead 6 4 10 9 9 Wirral 19 22 16 21 22 Wokingham 3 4 7 11 8 Wolverhampton 27 21 23 17 28 Worcestershire 39 41 31 40 21 York 10 16 11 13 9 England 3,591 3,561 3,716 3,665 3,699 Source: Data extract from the SOPHIE database. Boundaries assigned using the August 2008 National Statistics postcode directory. Contact: Healthgeog@ons.gov.uk