Figures released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families today (17 July) show that five per cent of child deaths, reviewed on behalf of local safeguarding children boards, could have been prevented.
According to the statistics, in the year running up to March 2009, 15 per cent of child deaths could have been prevented in the south west region, 14 per cent in the south east and 12 per cent in the north east.
The north west had the lowest figure at two per cent.
Children's minister Delyth 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.
"We know that, in many areas, lessons have already been learnt from the reviews and action has been taken to improve policy, professional practice and inter-agency working."
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