Stillbirths, miscarriages and other child deaths (FOI)Stillbirths, miscarriages and other child deaths (FOI)
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by Government of Jersey and published on
29 October 2021.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request
A
How many deaths of children have there been that are under the age of 18, including still births and late term miscarriages between 2014 and 2020?
B
During this period and up to the present time are there contracts or agreements in place with any Funeral Directors regarding funerals of children under the age of 18, still births or late term miscarriages? If yes, which Funeral Directors?
C
Of those under 18 who have been cremated, which funeral director has been recorded as being in charge of the funerals between 2014 and 2020?
Response
A
Digital registration of death began in January 2018 and now enables data gathering such as the information requested.
The data prior to 1 January 2018 is held in separate volumes of parish paper registers. To extract the data would require the manual search of every page of all 12 Parish Registers for each year requested. Each year there are 800 to 900 death registrations made across all 12 parishes. It is estimated that this would take more than 12.5 hours to complete. Therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.
Between 2018 and 2020 (inclusive) the deaths of seven children between the age of 0 years to 17 years of age were registered.
Data in relation to stillbirths is provided as a separate register containing stillbirth registrations and so this data is available for the whole period requested. Between 2014 and 2020 (inclusive) 17 stillbirths were registered.
This question cannot be answered in the current format in relation to miscarriages as the Government of Jersey Health and Social Services follows the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition of stillborn.
This is babies born after 24 or more weeks completed gestation that did not, at any time, breathe or show signs of life.
All births after 24 weeks gestation are recorded as stillbirths and not miscarriages.
B
No information is held in respect of any contracts with specific funeral directors. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.
C
Digital registration of death began in January 2018 and now enables data gathering such as the information requested.
The data prior to 1 January 2018 is held in separate volumes of parish paper registers. To extract the data would require the manual search of every page of all 12 Parish Registers for each year requested. Each year there are 800 to 900 death registrations made across all 12 parishes. It is estimated that this would take more than 12.5 hours to complete. Therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.
Number of child deaths (children aged 0 years to 17 years old) whose death was registered between 2018 and 2020, and the funeral director recorded as being in charge of the funeral:
Year | Number of child deaths registered | Number of child deaths where De Gruchy Funeral Care had charge of the funeral | Number of child deaths where Pitcher & Le Quesne Funeral Directors had charge of the funeral |
| 2018 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 2019 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 7 | 3 | 4 |
Data in relation to stillbirths is provided as a separate register containing stillbirth registrations and so this data is available for the whole period requested.
Number of stillbirths 2014 and 2020, where the child’s remains were cremated and the funeral director recorded as being in charge of the funeral:
Year | Number of stillbirths registered | Number of stillbirths committed for cremation | Number of stillbirth cremations where Maillard’s Funerals had charge of the funeral | Number of stillbirth cremations where Pitcher & Le Quesne Funeral Care had charge of the funeral |
| 2014 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2019 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2020 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 17 | 13 | 1 | 12 |
Late term miscarriages are subject to cremation at Jersey Crematorium. The committal for cremation does not involve a funeral taking place.
Article applied
Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive
(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.[2]
(2) Despite paragraph (1), a scheduled public authority may still supply the information requested on payment to it of a fee determined by the authority in the manner prescribed by Regulations for the purposes of this Article.
(3) Regulations may provide that, in such circumstances as the Regulations prescribe, if two or more requests for information are made to a scheduled public authority –
(a) by one person; or
(b) by different persons who appear to the scheduled public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign,
the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.
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