THE PROCESS of how the an unexplained child’s death is investigated was explained to councillors in a private session.

This came at the end of the last Full Council meeting on July 11.

Head of Children’s Services, Jan Coles, showed councillors slides showing how an investigation will be handled over the coming year.

This followed the annual report on social services given by the corporate director, Alison Bulman.

The death of a baby in Newtown in May is being investigated by Dyfed-Powys police. Questions have been asked about the relationship between the young couple, and their baby and Powys County Council Social Services.

Calls have been made for a formal investigation and as Corporate Parents councillors  need to know the details.

The investigative process is a complex one with several phases.

The first taking place in the first five days decides whether an investigation is needed.

The second covers the first month when more meetings take place to see which agency should be responsible for taking the process forward.

Once this is done a child death notice is sent to Public Health Wales

The third phase – which takes up to a year – is for the case review.

This ends with a summary of the facts around the death – which is also passed on to Public Health Wales who decide to take the case on to a review programme.

This process will be monitored by a separate child practice review group.

Dyfed-Powys Police received a report that an infant had died at an address in Newtown , on May 20, 2019.

The incident was referred to Her Majesty’s Coroner and as a result a forensic post mortem was conducted to establish the cause of death.

Dyfed-Powys Police say that this was inconclusive.

Further forensic tests are being done to find the cause of death and that specially trained officers are supporting the family.

Alison Bulman, PCC’s corporate director for children and adults, (social services), said: “We are aware of the death of an 11-week-old infant, which is being investigated by Dyfed-Powys Police and will offer our assistance during the course of their investigation.

“Our thoughts are with the family and we will provide support to them during this difficult time.”