You asked
Can you provide me with the data regarding SIDS for the whole of the UK between 1 October 2019 and May 5 2020. I'd like to know the number of deaths for each week within this period.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry for data on the number of Sudden Infant Deaths (SIDs) for the UK between 1 October 2019 and 5 May 2020, broken down by week.
We are responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for publishing the number of deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.
Our latest publication on Unexplained deaths in infancy is based on infant deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2017, where the underlying cause was either sudden infant death (ICD-10 code R95) or unascertained (ICD-10 code R99). These figures are based on occurrences data available up to 28 June 2019. The majority of unexplained infant deaths are referred to a coroner to ascertain the reasons for the death. The coroner can only register the death once any investigation is complete and a certified cause of death has been determined. The time taken to investigate the circumstances of the death can often result in a delay in death registration. While registration delays are commonly only a few days, they can occasionally extend into years. Therefore, we extract the data 18 months after the end of the reference year to allow for late death registrations.
As a result, we do not hold the data you have requested. Our next unexplained deaths in infancy release covering infant deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2018 is due to be published later this year. This will include provisional deaths for 2018 and the finalised 2017 figures.
Numbers of unexplained infant deaths are available by completed months in Table 2 of our Unexplained deaths in infancy dataset, however we aggregate the data for unexplained infant deaths occurring between 6 and 11 completed months for disclosure control purposes. It is not possible to disaggregate the data further by weeks for disclosure control reasons.