The Health Secretary has said he will be meeting with Archie Battersbee's family "in due course", BBC Essex reports.

The 12-year-old's mother, Hollie Dance, had written to Health Secretary Steve Barclay and said she wants a “public inquiry” into the “operation of this system” and a “change of the law”, following Archie Battersbee’s death.

Ms Dance said, in her letter, that “similar cases” are subject to “severe reporting restrictions” and “therefore away from public scrutiny”.

A judge based in the Family Division of the High Court in London ruled in July that doctors could lawfully stop providing life-support treatment for Archie, who suffered brain damage in an incident at home in Southend, in April.

Archie died recently after his mother Ms Dance, and father Paul Battersbee, failed in bids to overturn Mr Justice Hayden’s ruling.

Ms Dance and Mr Battersbee, who are separated, are being supported by a campaign organisation called the Christian Legal Centre. Centre officials released Ms Dance’s letter to Mr Barclay.

Ms Dance had earlier said she felt “backed into a corner” by the legal system and said her family felt “stripped” of rights.

Now the Health Secretary will be meeting Archie's family in "due course", BBC Essex reports.

During a visit to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Mr Barclay told the BBC: "I think everyone involved in this case recognises the huge sensitivity and the tragedy the family has faced.

"Obviously as a minister I have been very mindful there was a court process... and be respectful of that, but I think everyone's hearts go out to Archie's family.

"I don't think any of us can imagine how traumatic that must have been.

"It is a hugely sensitive case and obviously people are keen to support where they can."

Judges heard how Ms Dance found Archie unconscious on April 7. She thinks he might have been taking part in an online challenge.

The youngster did not regain consciousness.

Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, thought that he was brain-stem dead and said continued life-support treatment was not in his best interests.

His family wanted treatment to continue, and bosses at the hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, had asked for decisions on what medical moves were in Archie’s best interests.

High Court judge Mrs Justice Arbuthnot initially considered the case and concluded that Archie was dead.

But Court of Appeal judges upheld a challenge by his parents and said the evidence should be reviewed by a different High Court judge, Mr Justice Hayden, who ruled that ending treatment would be in Archie’s best interests after a hearing.