Lord Bishop of Leeds

It is unacceptable that infant mortality figures are rising, and that there are stark inequalities in outcomes for babies. The Government is committed to ensuring all mothers and babies received safe, personalised and compassionate care.

A key objective in NHS England’s Three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services is to reduce inequalities for all in maternity access, experience and outcomes, seeking to improve equity for mothers and babies. The plan includes 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 and includes initiatives to reduce inequalities. The bundle has been rolled out across England to all trusts with full implementation by 104 out of 120 providers. All local maternity and neonatal systems have published Equity and Equality actions plans to tackle inequalities for women and babies from ethnic minorities and those living in the most deprived areas, tailored to the needs of the local area. A copy of the delivery plan is attached.

The Government is currently piloting a training programme to help avoid brain injury in childbirth to improve safety for mothers and their babies. If successful, national rollout is expected to commence next year.

In England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works closely with NHS England, the Department and wider health system partners to improve uptake of the routine childhood immunisations and catch-up children who missed out.

UKHSA’s first childhood immunisation communication campaign ran from 4 March until mid-April 2024 and encouraged parents to ensure their child’s vaccinations were up to date which. The current campaign is running from 26 August until 4 October 2024.

UKHSA also provides public facing resources, including information leaflets in multiple languages and accessible formats, for example, easy read, BSL and braille, and clinical guidance, including e-learning programmes and training, for healthcare professionals.

To address inequalities NHS England continues to work with national and local partners to deliver faith-based community health engagement with Orthodox Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, and other communities in areas with low rates of childhood immunisation uptake. This includes promoting health seeking behaviors, such as general practitioner registration, and designing locally led community health events to raise awareness of the benefits of childhood immunisations and challenge misinformation.