A letter from the chairman of the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board in response to “deep concerns” held by the Children’s Minister Edward Timpson over the findings of the Hamzah Khan Serious Case Review was made public last night.

Mr Timpson had written to the board over the findings of the review into the death of four-year-old Hamzah, whose mummified body was found in his cot nearly two years after his death in 2009 at his home in Heaton, Bradford.

The review had concluded that Hamzah’s death was not a “predictable event”.

In his letter, board leader Professor Nick Frost said the author of the serious case review (SCR) was “cautioned against applying current knowledge retrospectively” and that judgments were made based on information available to agencies between 2005 and 2009.

He states: “Children’s Social Care had limited involvement in the family due to a lack of reporting of any serious concerns.

“No injuries or evidence of significant harm have ever been seen or reported in relation to any of the children.”

And he continues: “A constant theme throughout the SCR is that the threshold of concern was not reached within agencies to trigger a child protection investigation, under Section 47 of the Children Act, 1989.”