National templates for LSCBs to use when collecting information about child deaths
In accordance with Working Together (paragraph 7.7) all Local Safeguarding Children's Boards (LSCBs) need to keep information about each child's death. This data will help inform strategic planning on how best to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children in their area.
In order to assist LSCBs in this task, the DCSF commissioned Warwick University to lead development work on the templates which can be used by all LSCBs. These data-collection templates build on the data set used in the study undertaken by CEMACH (the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health), the findings of which will be published in the near future, and on the findings from a DCSF-commissioned study of LSCBs implementing the child-death review processes, which will be published later in Spring 2008.
Resources
National templates for LSCBs to use when collecting information
about child deaths
The Department is currently investigating options for creating web-enabled forms for LSCBs to use to enter and collate data.
In addition, work is also underway to consider how best to collect, collate and analyse information about child deaths at a regional and national level. The DCSF is drawing on the findings from the CEMACH- and Warwick-University-led LSCB study in taking forward this work, and will want to engage with LSCBs in the forthcoming months to consider what data should be collected at a national level. This will be in addition to the number of child deaths considered by each LSCB to be preventable and the total number of child deaths which will be required to monitor progress on Indicator 4 (reducing the incidence of preventable child deaths) in the PSA 13: To Improve Children and Young People's Safety.
For 2008/09, the figures for the number of child deaths and the number of preventable child deaths will be collected directly from LSCBs.
Further information will be published as soon as it becomes available.
This page was last updated on 23 April 2008
