Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 13 July (HL1811), what topics relating to health and social care Alan Milburn is recused from.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is an established system in place for the declaration and management of Non-Executive Director’s interests. Mr Milburn’s declarations of interest are published on the GOV.UK website and are as referenced in the previously given answer of 16 June 2026 to Question HL106, which is in line with the Cabinet Office guidance.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 8 July (HL1547), what mitigations, if any, have been approved and put in place in the Department for Health and Social Care with regard to any potential conflicts of interests of Rt Hon Alan Milburn.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Non-Executive Director candidates are required to declare all relevant interests prior to appointment. Actions to mitigate conflicts are then put in place for all relevant interests.
All financial interests and all remunerated outside employment, work, memberships, and appointments should be declared. Disclosure requirements and clear conflict of interest policies are detailed in Cabinet Office guidance to support the Department in managing any conflicts of interest. These include recusal from relevant matters, limitations on any gifts, transparent lobbying practices, and robust mechanisms for ethics enforcement within the Government.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 16 June 2026 (HL106), whether the Department for Health and Social Care holds a list of the clients and investments of AM Strategy Ltd, Bridgepoint Capital Ltd and PricewaterhouseCoopers which relate to health and social care and which may represent a conflict of interest with the work of Alan Milburn advising the department.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Prior to appointment, non-executive candidates are required to declare all relevant interests. Part of this process involves non-executive candidates declaring any clients or investments they hold. Appropriate mitigations are then approved and put in place by the Department. This process was carried out for the Rt Hon. Alan Milburn.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether (1) NHS England, and (2) each of the Department of Health and Social Care's arm's-length bodies, accepted the free portraits of His Majesty The King offered to public bodies.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
His Majesty The King’s Portrait Scheme was a voluntary programme offering a free, framed portrait of The King to any eligible public institution that requested one. The scheme ran from November 2023 to August 2024 and saw a total of 20,565 portraits ordered by public institutions across the United Kingdom to celebrate the new reign.
According to data published on GOV.UK, across the United Kingdom, take-up from Government departments, arm’s length bodies and local authorities was 73.1%. The specific information requested is not available as it relates to communications with or on behalf of the Royal Household.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to Alan Milburn's register of interests in Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, published 11 December 2025, which specific areas of health policy he has recused himself from in his role as non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Prior to appointment, non-executive candidates are required to declare all relevant interests. Appropriate mitigations are then approved and put in place by the Department.
This process was carried out for the Rt Hon. Alan Milburn, who is, as published on 21 May 2026: a majority shareholder in AM Strategy Ltd; a shareholder in, and adviser to, Bridgepoint Capital Ltd; a shareholder in Huma Therapeutics Ltd; an adviser to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC); the Chancellor of Lancaster University; chair of the Social Mobility Foundation; a member of the Labour Party; and leading the independent review into young people and employment established by the Government.
Information on specific recusals is not maintained as a central record.
Conflicts of interest are managed proactively in line with Departmental governance processes. Where a potential conflict arises, this is considered in advance and reflected in decisions about participation in relevant discussions or meetings.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of abortions in which women (1) deliberately, and (2) accidentally, misreport the date of their last menstrual period; and how they have incorporated that estimate into the implementation of allowing the prescription of abortion pills by telemedicine.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department collects information on abortions via the HSA4 abortion notification form, which does not hold this information.
The prescription of mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions is controlled by the Abortion Act 1967 and Human Medicines Regulations 2012. During the consultation, women are informed that their abortion medication has been prescribed for their use only and that it cannot be given to anyone else. In line with the Department’s required standard operating procedures for the approval of independent sector places for termination of pregnancy in England, all providers must ensure women are given information about how to dispose of, or return, the abortion pills if they are not used.
Before an early medical abortion can be undertaken at home, women are given the choice to have either an in-person consultation or a virtual consultation. However, if there is any uncertainty about the gestation of the pregnancy, the medical practitioner would ask the woman to attend an in-person appointment to enable them to form an opinion that the pregnancy will not have exceeded ten weeks at the time the first abortion pill is taken.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities report on complications from abortions in England 2017 to 2021, published on 23 November 2023, whether they have conducted further research on the impact of using data from Hospital Episode Statistics on reported abortion complication rates; and how this compares with using figures from the Abortion Notification System.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not undertaken any further research or analysis on the impact of using data from Hospital Episode Statistics compared with the Abortion Notification System since the report into the comparison of complication rates using these data sources was published in 2023.
The Department has not committed to updating or repeating this analysis and the publication will remain as a one‑off report until further notice.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the difference between the number of abortion pills prescribed via telemedicine and the number actually taken; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which abortion pills prescribed via telemedicine are being stockpiled by women.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department collects information on abortions via the HSA4 abortion notification form, which does not hold this information.
The prescription of mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions is controlled by the Abortion Act 1967 and Human Medicines Regulations 2012. During the consultation, women are informed that their abortion medication has been prescribed for their use only and that it cannot be given to anyone else. In line with the Department’s required standard operating procedures for the approval of independent sector places for termination of pregnancy in England, all providers must ensure women are given information about how to dispose of, or return, the abortion pills if they are not used.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the estimated number of miscarriages, (2) the estimated number of stillbirths, (3) the number of police investigations relating to miscarriages, and (4) the number of police investigations relating to stillbirths, for each of the last 10 years for which data are available.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research estimates that 15.3% of recognised pregnancies end in miscarriage, a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks completed gestation, which is the equivalent to approximately 100,000 miscarriages in England each year. However, due to lack of data on the earliest losses, the true figure could be higher.
Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) perinatal mortality surveillance reports the number of stillbirths, babies delivered at or after 24 completed weeks’ gestational age showing no signs of life, irrespective of when the death occurred, and excluding terminations of pregnancy. The following table shows stillbirth numbers in England from 2014 to 2023 inclusive:
Year | Stillbirths |
2014 | 2,789 |
2015 | 2,621 |
2016 | 2,611 |
2017 | 2,389 |
2018 | 2,210 |
2019 | 2,040 |
2020 | 1,939 |
2021 | 2,106 |
2022 | 1,928 |
2023 | 1,847 |
The Home Office does not collect information centrally on police investigations into miscarriages or stillbirths. However, the Home Office does collect and publish figures on the number of criminal offences of ‘procuring illegal abortion’ and ‘intentional destruction of a viable unborn child’ recorded by police in England and Wales. However, it is neither possible to identify what prompted an investigation that led to a crime being recorded, nor the number of investigations that resulted in a decision not to record a crime.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 25 November (HL11903), when they expect to publish data on abortions for the years 2023 and 2024.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Publication of the 2023 abortion statistics has been pre-announced for 15 January 2026 and will be published on the GOV.UK website.
We will announce the exact date for publication of the 2024 abortion statistics in due course.