Infant Mortality: Temporary Accommodation
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on infant and child mortality rates for children living in temporary accommodation; whether his Department collects data on the housing status of children at the time of death; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on mitigating health risks faced by children in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Mrs Sharon Hodgson
Ministers at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as other departments, are engaging through the interministerial group supporting the cross-Government homelessness strategy, A National Plan to End Homelessness, including discussions to mitigate the health risks faced by children in temporary accommodation. The plan is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-national-plan-to-end-homelessness
The Department is considering the recommendations set out in the recently published Child Mortality in Temporary Accommodation Report, and taking forward actions, some of which are already in policy development, such as introducing a clinical code for children in temporary accommodation, ensuring these families are proactively contacted by health services and ending the practice of discharging newborn babies into bed and breakfasts or other unsuitable shared accommodation. The report is available at the following link:
The Department does not hold formal data on child mortality in temporary accommodation.
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