Bradford Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) has accepted that false claims Hamzah Khan was living in Portsmouth, when in fact he lay dead at home in Bradford, could have been “more vigorously” followed up.

The revelation came in one of the answers to ten questions posed by children’s minister Edward Timpson in response to the findings of the Hamzah Khan Serious Case Review. The answers were 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 December 2009 at his home in Heaton, Bradford. The review had concluded Hamzah’s death was not a “predictable event”.

Mr Timpson said the review failed to sufficiently explain the actions taken, or not taken, by children's social care when problems with the family were brought to their attention.

The board initially said the detail needed to answer Mr Timpson’s questions could potentially identify Hamzah's siblings, who cannot be identified, and so should not be made public. But the online document released last night blacked out any information which could identify them.

Question nine asked what attempts were made to establish the whereabouts of Hamzah and two of his siblings. Their mother Amanda Hutton had claimed they were living in Portsmouth.

The BSCB answer said a health visitor initiated the ‘Children Missing from Education Protocol’ for Hamzah and the two siblings on October 11, 2010. It also said attempts were made to locate the children, but on November 19, 2010, officials in Portsmouth said they had no record of the three children.

A BSCB summary of its answer said the children were not registered at a school and did not have Unique Pupil Numbers, so electronic tracing was impossible. It also pointed to Education Welfare Service social workers being given false information and Hutton deceiving officers from public services.

The answer concluded: “The Serious Case Review has found that the Education Welfare Service could have followed up the assertion that Hamzah and his siblings were living in Portsmouth more vigorously and this is accepted. This has been taken into account by the service in Bradford with guidelines updated and practice improved in the light of lessons learned from this case for staff.”

Other answers in the 11-page document relate to another of Hamzah’s siblings - Child 8 - and investigations into accusations of domestic violence, school bullying and Hutton’s drinking. In May 2007, Child 8 claimed none of his siblings had been threatened or hurt by his parents.

The answer to question four says that between December 2009 and January 2011 there were no referrals to Children’s Social Care by any agency in relation to the Khan children. It also said police had no concerns following Hutton failing to pick three of her children up from school because there was a responsible adult in the house.

One answer referred to a letter sent to Hutton by Children’s Social Care explaining that no action would be taken following an anonymous tip-off about shouting and swearing being heard at her house.

The answers to Mr Timpson’s ten questions can be viewed at bradford-scb.org.uk/ in the Hamzah Khan Serious Case Review section.