What is the Welsh Government's assessment of how its current arrangements compare to the child death review and notification systems operating in England?
The Child Death Review Programme collects information on all deaths of children in Wales, as well as Welsh-resident children who die elsewhere. The programme is managed by Public Health Wales and analyses national and regional patterns and trends to identify factors contributing to these deaths, with the aim of informing interventions that may help prevent future child deaths.
The programme covers deaths of children who are live born, where the death occurred after 1 October 2009 and before the child’s 18th birthday and where the child is either normally resident in Wales or dies within Wales. This includes children who are under local authority care and placed outside of Wales, or those who may temporarily reside outside of Wales for healthcare or education purposes.
The Procedural Response to Unexpected Deaths in Childhood (PRUDiC) sets a minimum standard for a response to unexpected deaths in infancy and childhood. It describes the process of communication, multidisciplinary collaboration and information sharing following the unexpected death of a child. The PRUDiC applies to all deaths in children from birth until their 18th birthday whether from natural, unnatural, known or unknown causes, at home, in hospital or in the community. The aim of the PRUDiC is to ensure that the response to unexpected deaths is safe, consistent and sensitive to those concerned.
Data generated through the PRUDiC is used by the Child Death Review Programme to determine patterns and trends pertaining to child deaths in Wales, and to inform thematic reviews to identify opportunities for future prevention.
Findings from the Child Death Review Programme are published regularly and shared with the Welsh Government through routine reporting and engagement meetings, enabling ongoing oversight of emerging trends. Where areas of concern are identified, targeted or rapid reviews may be commissioned to inform timely action. In addition, PRUDiC reviews are managed through safeguarding structures, with relevant issues escalated via the National Safeguarding Service
into safeguarding case review processes, ensuring that learning is systematically captured to support ongoing service improvement.
The process for reviewing child deaths in Wales is not directly comparable to that in England. It provides a coherent, proportionate and nationally consistent approach to understanding and preventing child deaths, with an emphasis on population-level insight and early identification of emerging risks. While structured differently from England, it enables effective national oversight and supports targeted action to reduce preventable child deaths across Wales.