In February and March this year, the inspectorate was notified that a total of 13 serious case reviews were initiated into child deaths or cases of serious abuse, bringing the total for 2010/11 to 71.
This represents a 48 per cent drop on the figure for 2009/10 of 136. In 2008/09, there were 131 and, in 2007/08, a total of 137.
In February, CYP Now reported on a fall in serious case reviews being initiated, a drop that coincided with the introduction of a controversial government policy that will be published in full.
As part of her review of child protection, Eileen Munro is looking into serious case reviews and could be set to recommend changes to the current system when her final report is published in the coming weeks.
An Ofsted spokesman said: "The number of notifications of the instigation of serious case reviews received by Ofsted from local safeguarding children boards varies month by month. Ofsted is not able to speculate on the reasons for such variation."
