theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-03)

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Alex Sobel:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce the delay for a bipolar diagnosis and (b) bring it in line with early intervention targets for other conditions. \p Stephen Kinnock: It is unacceptable that too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long, including for people with bipolar disorder. We are determined to change that.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, create a network of open access community Young Futures hubs, recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment, and modernise the Mental Health Act.

We are also committed to new models of care for mental health, including reforming care for people experiencing a mental health crisis. We are testing neighbourhood mental health centres for people aged 18 years old and over with serious mental illness. These six pilot schemes are based in Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Sheffield, York, Birmingham, and Whitehaven.

These models will offer 24/7 open access care closer to home, with an integrated service which includes healthcare providers, local authorities, and the voluntary sector. These pilots build on international evidence that shows that similar models have led to a reduction in hospitalisation and waiting times, and support our efforts to move more care into the community.

Since 2021, all areas of the country have been transforming and increasing access to community mental health services for all people with severe mental illness, including people with bipolar disorder. The vision for the transformation programme was set out in the Community Mental Health Framework, which included ensuring that services were needs led, rather than requiring people to have a specific diagnosis to access care.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-03)

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Harpreet Uppal:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of access to CAMHS services for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) children in Huddersfield. \p Stephen Kinnock: We know that too many children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, are not receiving the mental health care they need, and that waits for mental health services are too long across England, including in Huddersfield. We are determined to change that.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, introduce open access Young Futures hubs in communities, and recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-03)

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Jayne Kirkham:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the NHS Find a dentist website in relation to information on accepting new NHS patients to remove the selectable option of When availability allows and instead replace it with options of either Yes or No. \p Stephen Kinnock: National Health Service dentists are required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have up-to-date information on where they can access care. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. The NHS.UK website was updated in April 2024 to include the ‘when availability allows’ option to reflect that the availability of appointments may change over time, which is more reflective of the way NHS dentists work.

Integrated care boards can review which practices in their area have not updated their profile in a 90-day period, and work with practices to ensure that their websites are up to date.

Patients in England are not registered with an NHS dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend.
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Sir Julian Lewis:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) mechanisms exist and (b) steps he is taking to ensure that integrated care boards are accountable for their commissioning of children’s palliative care. \p Stephen Kinnock: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, including for children and young people, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year, and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must include how well the ICB has discharged its functions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-03)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Qquestion 38429 on General Practitioners: Finance, from what year is the (a) GP expenses data, (b) patient data used to calculate the distance from the patients’ homes to the GP surgery and (c) the population density used in the rurality adjustment of the Carr-Hill formula. \p Stephen Kinnock: Global sum payments to general practices (GPs) are based on the Carr-Hill formula. The staff market forces factor is based on earnings data from 1999 to 2001. For the rurality component, the GP expenses data is from 2000 to 2001. The patient data used to calculate the distance from patients’ homes to the GP surgery uses patients’ current addresses. The population density data used in the rurality adjustment is from 2001.
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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the impact assessment for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will be published. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government expects to publish the impact assessment before Members consider the bill on Report.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 39625 on General Practitioners: Employers' Contributions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed increase to employers' National Insurance contributions on the number of general practices. \p Stephen Kinnock: We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement. The employers’ National Insurance rise was implemented in April 2025.

General practices (GPs) are valued independent contractors who provide over £13 billion worth of National Health Services. Every year we consult with the profession about what services GPs provide, and the money providers are entitled to in return under their contract, taking account of the cost of delivering services.

We are investing an additional £889 million through the GP Contract to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade, and we are pleased that the General Practitioners Committee England is supportive of the contract changes.
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Neil Coyle:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which stakeholders (a) he and (b) his officials have met with while (i) preparing, (ii) publishing and (iii) bringing forward the Mental Health Bill. \p Stephen Kinnock: The reforms delivered by the Mental Health Bill reflect the recommendations made by the Independent Review into the Mental Health Act, which engaged widely with stakeholders, including people with lived experience. There was extensive consultation following this to develop the draft bill, most notably in the Government’s White Paper, Reforming the Mental Health Act. Since the initial draft bill, we have taken on board several recommendations from the pre-legislative scrutiny committee, which heard from a wide range of stakeholders and organisations representing service users, patients, and professionals.

Soon after the Mental Health Bill’s introduction to the House of Lords on 6 November 2024, the Department held a ministerial roundtable to discuss the content of the bill’s reforms with stakeholder groups, and a wider virtual meeting to update a broader range of stakeholders. Engagement has continued throughout the bill’s passage.
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Neil Coyle:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have met with the Bring People Home from Psychiatric Hospital campaign to discuss the Mental Health Bill. \p Stephen Kinnock: Engagement with stakeholders and people with lived experience is central to the progression of these reforms, and we will consult and engage as we move to implementation planning, including on revisions to the Mental Health Act Code of Practice. The Department recognises the important work of the Bring People Home from Psychiatric Hospital network. A meeting to discuss the Mental Health Bill has not taken place with this network to date.
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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that GPs are able to access their pension information. \p Stephen Kinnock: NHS Pension Scheme members, including general practitioners (GPs), can access information about their pension via My NHS Pension, an online portal from the NHS Pension Service, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/my-nhs-pension

To provide accurate pension information for practitioners, the NHS Business Services Authority needs a fully up to date record in respect of their NHS Pension Scheme membership. This means practitioners must submit their Annual Certificate(s) of Pensionable Profits to Primary Care Support England (PCSE), so that PCSE can keep their record updated.

PCSE launched the PCSE Online GP Pensions system in 2021 to provide GPs and practices with greater convenience, and more transparency and security when it comes to their pension contributions data. Supporting GPs to accurately submit current and historic Type 1 or Type 2 annual certificates remains a priority for NHS England and PCSE. Since the PCSE Online solution for submitting Type 1 and Type 2 certificates electronically went live in 2021, PCSE have developed user guides and held webinars to educate GPs on how to complete forms accurately.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-03)

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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time for an NHS dental appointment was in (a) York Central constituency, (b) Yorkshire and (c) England in each of the last ten years. \p Stephen Kinnock: Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. Dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements. Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care, including dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the York Central constituency, this is the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB.
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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the level of capacity with the NHS for (a) ADHD and (b) autism assessments. \p Stephen Kinnock: It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted that demand for assessments for ADHD and autism have grown significantly in recent years, and highlighted the severe delays for accessing such assessments.

The report noted that nationally the growth in demand for ADHD assessments over recent years has been so significant that it risks completely overwhelming the available resources. NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the NHS, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in the summer.

In respect of autism, the latest Autism Waiting Times Statistics published by NHS England show that, in December 2024, there were 212,964 patients with an open referral for suspected autism. Of these, 191,656 had a referral that had been open at least 13 weeks. On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance aims to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.
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Daniel Francis:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the difference between the (a) fee that will be paid to deliver the NHS Special Schools Eye Care Service and (b) cost of delivering the same clinical care in outpatient paediatric ophthalmology clinics. \p Stephen Kinnock: The fee that has been put in place to underpin the service is aligned to other fees paid for domiciliary sight testing services. NHS England has committed to investing up to £12.7 million annually on the provision of sight tests and the associated optical vouchers in special educational settings. This provides the potential for these services to reach approximately 165,000 children and young people in over 2,000 educational settings, ensuring sight tests are provided in a familiar environment whilst minimising disruption to the school day.

NHS England has engaged with key stakeholders throughout the life of the programme and continues to work closely with local integrated care board commissioners, and the ophthalmic and voluntary sector, to scale up and roll out sight tests for patients in a special educational setting.
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Sarah Champion:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 38992 on Mental Health Services: Children, what metrics his Department uses to provide a comparative assessment of the impact on long-term outcomes of children and young people’s well-being practitioners with (a) accredited school-based counsellors and (b) other relevant professionals; and if he will take steps to commission an independent review on the impact of different mental health practitioners on children and young people’s well-being. \p Stephen Kinnock: All interventions delivered by mental health practitioners, including those in mental health support teams, are evidence-based and use a range of clinical evidence.

An early evaluation of the children and young people’s mental health trailblazer programme examined the development, implementation, and early progress of the 25 ‘trailblazer’ mental health support teams created as the first step of the programme. The interim report was published in January 2023, and highlights the impacts of the mental health support teams on improving pupil mental health and improving teacher mental health. The report is available at the following link:

https://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/2023/children-and-young-people-s-mental-health-trailblazer-programme.html

There are currently no plans to commission an independent review on the impact of different mental health practitioners on children and young people’s well-being.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the impact of (a) housing, (b) income, (c) access to education and (d) other social determinants of health on maternal health outcomes for ethnic minority women. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to addressing the stark inequalities for women and babies, so that everyone can receive the high-quality care they deserve regardless of their background, circumstance, or ethnicity.

The Department is working with NHS England, other Government departments, and the wider sector to identify and embed the right actions and interventions that will help deliver improvements. For example, we are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to develop non-statutory guidance to support the implementation of Awaab’s Law from October 2025. This law introduces additional hazards, such as excess cold, which increase health risks for pregnant women, as well as for unborn and born children.

To find new ways to tackle maternity disparities, the National Institute for Health and Care Research, funded by the Department, launched the first challenge on maternity inequalities in March 2024. Over the subsequent five years, funding of up to £50 million will be made available to develop research and evidence that will drive action to reduce maternity inequalities and improve outcomes for women.
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Maya Ellis:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve postnatal care services for mothers (a) with mental health challenges and (b) in rural areas. \p Karin Smyth: We are committed to ensuring that women, including those living in rural areas, receive safe and equitable care, regardless of where they live or give birth.

NHS England’s guidance sets out that all women who have given birth should be offered a postnatal check-up with their general practitioner (GP) after six to eight weeks. This check-up provides an important opportunity for women to be listened to by their GP in a discreet, supportive environment, and for women to be assessed and supported not just in their physical recovery post-birth, but also in their mental health.

For women with, or at risk of, mental health problems, who are planning a pregnancy, are pregnant, or who have a baby up to two years old, specialist perinatal mental health services provide care in all 42 integrated care system (ICS) areas of England. For women experiencing mental health difficulties directly arising from, or related to, their maternity or neonatal experience, Maternal Mental Health Services provide care in 41 of the 42 ICS areas in England, with the last being supported by NHS England to ensure it is up and running as soon as possible.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average cost of energy bills were for NHS buildings in each year since 2015. \p Karin Smyth: The annual Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC) collects data on the energy costs of National Health Service organisations. This data has been consistently reported since 2018/19. The following table shows the cost of energy bills for NHS trusts as reported in ERIC, from 2018/19 to 2023/24:

Year

Total

Mean average per reporting trust

2018/19

£667,000,000

£2,900,000

2019/20

£672,000,000

£3,000,000

2020/21

£653,000,000

£3,000,000

2021/22

£779,000,000

£3,700,000

2022/23

£1,195,000,000

£5,700,000

2023/24

£1,380,000,000

£6,600,000
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) sources and (b) levels were of carbon emissions for NHS buildings in England in each year since 2015. \p Karin Smyth: National Health Service organisations are not expected to individually submit carbon emissions data. Estimates are made at a national level, based on energy consumption data submitted by trusts through the annual Estates Return Information Collection. Further information on the annual Estates Return Information Collection is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection

Total NHS carbon emissions estimates are published in NHS England’s Annual Report. A copy of a table showing total secondary care emissions by energy source and rounded to nearest 10 ktCO2e, from 2018/19 to 2023/24, the most recent data available, is attached.

PQ41162 Additional document (docx, 20.4KB)
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support local maternity services to tackle racial disparities; and whether his Department monitors the compliance of these services with guidelines on (a) equality and (b) anti-discrimination. \p Karin Smyth: The National Health Service’s Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services sets national measures to improve maternity and neonatal services by making care more personalised and equitable. A key objective within the plan is to reduce inequalities for all in maternity access, experience, and outcomes, seeking to improve equity for mothers and babies. As part of the plan, all local areas have published Equity and Equality Action Plans, which set out tailored interventions that will tackle inequalities for women and babies from ethnic backgrounds and those living in the most deprived areas. Equity and Equality Action Plans are published online to ensure public accountability.

NHS England has published technical guidance to monitor compliance and to determine the success measures that are used to monitor the outcomes and progress in achieving the key objectives of the plan. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/three-year-delivery-plan-for-maternity-and-neonatal-care-technical-guidance/

The Department is also considering what longer term action can be taken to tackle disparities in outcomes and experiences for black, Asian, and minority ethnic women. This includes working closely with NHS England, and the wider sector, to identify the right actions and interventions that will deliver the required change.
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Peter Prinsley:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make a comparative estimate of the number of people hospitalised due to asthma compared to other European nations in 2024. \p Karin Smyth: Across 2023/24, the latest data available, 2.5 million, or 64.6% of, patients on the asthma register received a review. Further information is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/respiratory-disease/data#page/4/gid/8000009/pat/159/par/K02000001/ati/15/are/E92000001/iid/93790/age/314/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

In addition, the most recent asthma hospital admissions data for England is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/asthma

Furthermore, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development holds international comparison data for asthma hospital admissions, up to 2022, which is available at the following link:

https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?fs[0]=Topic%2C1%7CHealth%23HEA%23%7CHealthcare%20quality%20and%20outcomes%23HEA_HCQ%23&pg=0&fc=Topic&snb=11&df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_HCQO%40DF_HCQO&df[ag]=OECD.ELS.HD&df[vs]=1.0&dq=.A.ADMRASTH..._T.OBS%2BVALUEW&pd=2014%2C&to[TIME_PERIOD]=false&vw=tb

There is no published international comparison data for asthma hospital admissions available for the past 12 months, and the Department currently has no plans to make an assessment of this.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic women receive equitable access to high-quality maternity care in (a) areas with significant health inequalities and (b) other areas. \p Karin Smyth: It is unacceptable that there are such inequalities for women and babies. It is a priority for the Government to make sure that all women and babies receive the high-quality care they deserve, regardless of their background, location, or ethnicity.

The National Health Service’s Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services sets national measures to improve maternity and neonatal services by making care more personalised and equitable. A key objective within the plan is to reduce inequalities for all in maternity access, experience, and outcomes, to improve equity for mothers and babies. As part of the plan, all local areas have published Equity and Equality Action Plans, which set out tailored interventions that will tackle inequalities for women and babies from ethnic backgrounds and for those living in the most deprived areas. Trusts are also implementing Version 3 of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which provides maternity units with guidance and interventions to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth.

The Department continues to work closely with the NHS as it delivers these initiatives.

The Department is also considering what longer term action can be taken to tackle disparities in outcomes and experiences for black, Asian, and minority ethnic women. This includes working closely with NHS England, and the wider sector, to identify the right actions and interventions that will deliver the required change.
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Chris Hinchliff:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children were admitted into NHS care for more than seven days in the latest period for which data is available. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England collects data on patient discharge episodes, including for children. Discharge data does not represent the number of individual children with a hospital stay, as a child may have more than one discharge from hospital within the reporting period.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, 67,421 discharge episodes were recorded where the patient was in hospital for more than seven days and was aged between zero and 17 years old when admitted into National Health Service care.

The following table shows a count of finished discharge episodes where the patient was aged between zero and 17 years old, including both total discharges and episodes where the patient was in hospital for more than seven days, each discharge month for 2023/24, for activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector:

Discharge year

Discharge month

Total discharges

Discharges over seven days

2023

April

150,925

5,203

2023

May

167,886

5,731

2023

June

164,206

5,489

2023

July

160,981

5,393

2023

August

153,118

5,163

2023

September

162,577

5,203

2023

October

178,583

5,686

2023

November

186,682

6,144

2023

December

169,807

5,997

2024

January

174,492

5,698

2024

February

170,258

5,667

2024

March

180,789

6,047

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS England.

Notes:
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the quality of maternity care for women from Black and Asian backgrounds. \p Karin Smyth: It is unacceptable that there are inequalities for women and babies. It is a priority for the Government to make sure that all women and babies receive the high-quality care they deserve, regardless of their background, location, or ethnicity.

NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services sets out how the National Health Service will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. A central component of this is action to tackle and reduce inequalities, to deliver consistency in access, experiences, and outcomes. Through this plan, all local areas now have Equity and Equality Action Plans in place, which set out tailored interventions that tackle inequalities for women and babies from ethnic backgrounds and those living in the most deprived areas. All trusts are also now implementing Version 3 of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which provides maternity units with guidance and interventions to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth. It also includes initiatives to tackle factors that also drive worst outcomes, for example reducing smoking in pregnancy.

However, further action is needed, and ministers in the Department are working closely with NHS England, and the wider sector, to identify the right actions and interventions that will deliver the required change. Part of this will be setting an explicit target to close the black and Asian maternal mortality gap and drive the change we need to see.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) ensure that data collection on maternity care outcomes is disaggregated by ethnicity and (b) reduce gaps in this data. \p Karin Smyth: Data on a woman’s ethnic background is routinely collected by services at multiple points throughout maternity care. This data is used to disaggregate reporting of adverse outcomes, like maternal mortality, by ethnicity. Differences by ethnicity are also reported as part of the Care Quality Commission’s annual survey, which asks a sample of pregnant women and new mothers about their experience of National Health Service maternity services.

NHS trusts are incentivised to collect this information through the Maternity Incentive Scheme, which is a financial incentive program designed to enhance maternity safety within NHS trusts. Safety Action 2 of the Maternity Incentive Scheme incentivises trusts to submit digital information, including ethnicity data, to the Maternity Services Data Set.

The levels of completeness are high, and gaps are rare. 95% of women who gave birth in 2023/24 had their ethnic background recorded.
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Richard Foord:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department taking to ensure that maternity hospitals are adequately staffed to ensure high quality care for pregnant women in Devon. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to tackling the retention and recruitment challenges that face the National Health Service. Bringing in the staff we need will take time, but this is an absolute priority for the Government.

NHS England is leading a range of initiatives to boost retention of existing staff and ensure that the NHS remains an attractive career choice for new recruits. This includes building a compassionate and inclusive culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities.

Targeted retention work for midwives is being undertaken by NHS England, led by the Chief Nursing Officer. This work contains a range of measures, including creation of a midwifery and nursing retention self-assessment tool, mentoring schemes, strengthened advice and support on pensions, and embedding flexible retirement options. NHS England has also invested in unit-based retention leads which, alongside investment in workforce capacity, has seen a reduction in vacancy, leaver, and turnover rates.

Decisions around local recruitment remain the responsibility of individual NHS trusts, who are responsible for ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that culturally competent (a) midwifery and (b) obstetric training is available in the NHS; and how his Department assesses the effectiveness of these steps. \p Karin Smyth: It is a priority for the Government to make sure that all women and babies receive the high-quality care they deserve, regardless of their background, location, or ethnicity. To deliver this, it is important that those working in maternity and neonatal services receive the required training needed to deliver culturally competent care.

While it is the responsibility of employers in the health system to ensure that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver safe and effective treatment for patients, NHS England is taking steps to ensure that maternity healthcare professionals receive training on unconscious bias and culturally competent care through the Core Competency Framework and through provision of the Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Maternity Services e-learning course. Over 15,400 maternity staff have completed the e-learning module, which supports staff to better understand and meet the needs of diverse communities.

NHS England has also embedded equity-focused leadership development through the Perinatal Culture and Leadership Programme. All 150 maternity and neonatal units in England have participated in the programme. No assessment has been made on the effectiveness of these steps.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-03)

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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that maternity services (a) are free from racial discrimination and (b) effectively meet the needs of women from all ethnic backgrounds. \p Karin Smyth: Taking action to tackle racism experienced by both staff and patients is essential to providing safe services for everyone. It is right that the National Health Service takes proactive steps to address prejudice and discrimination where it exists across the NHS workforce.

NHS England is ensuring maternity healthcare professionals receive training on unconscious bias and culturally competent care through the Core Competency Framework and the provision of the Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Maternity Services e-learning course. Equity-focused leadership development is being embedded through the national Perinatal Culture and Leadership Programme.

In June 2023, NHS England published an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan, which sets out targeted actions to address prejudice and discrimination in the NHS workforce. The plan seeks to increase accountability for all leaders in delivering improvements, and to create an environment that eliminates the conditions in which bullying, discrimination, harassment, and physical violence at work occur.

For maternity services specifically, all local areas, including those in urban and rural areas, are required to equip staff to provide culturally competent care through their local Equity and Equality Actions plans, such as by providing appropriate training to staff for their local population.   NHS England is also developing a respectful and inclusive maternity care toolkit which aims to improve access, experiences, and outcomes for service users and to support staff to provide culturally sensitive care.
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Liam Conlon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve miscarriage care (a) in general and (b) for miscarriages occurring before 12 weeks of pregnancy. \p Karin Smyth: The Government recognises that experiencing a miscarriage can be an extremely difficult time, and we are determined to make sure all women and babies receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care, particularly when things go wrong. It is vital that women seeking support, including in early pregnancy, get the care they need.

We have launched the Baby Loss Certificate Service, which enables those who have experienced any pregnancy loss to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of a baby loss, if they wish to do so. The Human Tissue Authority has also updated the guidance on the sensitive handling of pregnancy remains. We are continuing to work with NHS England to improve the Early Pregnancy Assessment Units’ services, by improving their availability and level of support. NHS England has also published a policy to support National Health Service employees and provide managers with advice on how to support people affected by baby loss, including paid leave.
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Mr Will Forster:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps with NHS England to improve the provision of respite homes for mums and babies post traumatic birth. \p Karin Smyth: The Department recognises the significant physical and psychological consequences of birth trauma and the devastating impact this can have on some women. We are fully committed to improving the quality and consistency of care for women throughout pregnancy, birth, and the critical months that follow, and to ensuring that when a woman experiences a traumatic birth, there is a broad range of support available

In relation to the psychological impact, bespoke mental health pathways support women who experience mental health difficulties as a result of labour. These services are provided through specialist perinatal mental health services, maternal mental health services, and mother and baby units. Mother and baby units are specialist, in-patient units for some women with mental health problems, designed to keep mothers and their babies together. Specialist staff nurture and support the mother infant relationship on the ward, while at the same time the mother receives treatment and care. 165 mother and baby unit beds have now been commissioned, and maternal mental health services have been set up in 41 out of the 42 local areas across England to provide care for women with moderate to severe or complex mental health difficulties, arising from birth trauma or loss in the maternity/neonatal context.

With regards to physical health, NHS England’s national service specification for perinatal pelvic health services sets out the expected standards of care to improve the prevention and identification of pelvic health issues, and to increase access to physiotherapy for pelvic health issues during pregnancy and for at least one year after birth. These services work with maternity services across England to implement the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injuries care bundle, to reduce rates of anal sphincter, or perineal, injuries resulting from labour and vaginal birth.

All women are now offered a general practitioner (GP) check six to eight weeks after birth that should focus on the mothers physical and mental health needs. This is an opportunity for GPs to listen to women in a discrete, supportive environment, in order to provide personalised postnatal care for their physical and mental health, and includes an explicit reference to birth trauma for the first time.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) reduce racial disparities in the (i) experiences, (ii) levels of satisfaction and (iii) care outcomes of women during (A) antenatal, (B) labour and (C) postnatal care. \p Karin Smyth: Monitoring and utilising data and evidence is crucial to making evidence-based improvements to our maternity services. Data collected on the ethnic backgrounds of women experiencing adverse maternity outcomes can help identify areas that require targeted interventions and improvements in maternal and neonatal care. Monitoring the incidence and rate of adverse outcomes is a crucial step in implementing evidence-based strategies to preventing and mitigating such incidents.

Data on a woman’s ethnic background is collected by services at various points on her maternity journey. National Health Service trusts are incentivised to collect this information, and levels of completeness are high, with 95% of women who gave birth in 2023/24 having had their ethnic group recorded. This information is used to identify differences in care pathways and outcomes experienced by women from different ethnic backgrounds.

For example, Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) reports the shocking disparity in maternal mortality rates for black and Asian women compared with white women. MBRRACE-UK has also performed a confidential enquiry into the care of black and Asian women who have experienced a stillbirth or neonatal death. These reviews include recommendations for improvements in clinical processes and policy that may reduce ethnic inequalities in adverse maternity outcomes.

Monitoring the experiences women have of different aspects of maternity care is also crucial. The Care Quality Commission conducts an annual survey that asks pregnant women and new mothers about their experience of NHS maternity services. The 2024 survey found that women who reported their ethnicity as ‘Indian’, ‘Pakistani’ and ‘any other White background’ reported poorer experiences of maternity care, specifically around not feeling listened to and not receiving help during their antenatal and postnatal care. These insights inform local and national interventions.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider the final costs and benefits statement for programmes delivered under the National Programme of Technology, published on 6 June 2013, in his plans for (a) an NHS Federated Data Platform and (b) a single patient record. \p Karin Smyth: We are keen to draw on the lessons from the National Programme for IT in delivering the Federated Data Platform and the single patient record.

NHS England publishes information each quarter on the benefits being realised by the Federated Data Platform, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/digitaltechnology/nhs-federated-data-platform/solution-exchange/fdp-uptake-and-benefits/
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-03)

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Mary Glindon:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of recent changes made to her Department's guidance entitled Nationality: good character requirement, published on 10 February 2025, on community cohesion. \p Seema Malhotra: The British Nationality Act 1981 is clear that it is for the Home Secretary to determine the good character policy. There is no definition of good character in primary legislation, nor is there statutory guidance as to how this should be interpreted or defined. Changes to the good character policy are at the discretion of the Home Secretary.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is leading cross-Government efforts to develop a longer-term, more strategic approach to social cohesion - working in partnership with communities and local stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address the deep-seated issues. A new cross-government ministerial ‘Communities & Recovery Steering Group’ has been stood up to oversee this work and this group includes the Home Secretary.