Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 30835 on Miscarriages: databases, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on including a question on experiences of miscarriage in the annual health survey for England as a way of capturing miscarriage data (a) in healthcare settings and (b) outside of healthcare settings.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has not held discussions with NHS England on specifically including a question on experiences of miscarriage in the annual health survey for England, as a way of capturing miscarriage data, either in healthcare settings or outside of healthcare settings.

The reproductive health survey conducted by the Department in 2023 included a question on the experience of pregnancy loss, which including miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or stillbirth. The survey reached 52,000 women, and showed that among those between 30 and 40 years old, more than one in 10 reported experience of pregnancy loss or infertility in the last year. The Department will update on plans to conduct the survey again in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the reorganisation of local government structures and devolution on the (a) (i) management and (ii) maintenance of existing affordable housing held by Local Authorities and Housing Associations and (b) the production of new affordable homes.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

As local authorities plan for local government reorganisation (LGR) and consider the impact of greater devolution to Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities, it is essential that they continue to deliver their business-as-usual services and duties, and these duties will remain in place for any newly established authorities. This includes continuing to manage their homes in line with relevant regulatory requirements and ensuring that they are safe, decent, and warm.

At the same time, we want local authorities to continue to come forward with ambitious plans to deliver the social and affordable homes that their local communities want and need, and which we are working to support. I have, for example, asked officials to explore whether the current threshold at which a local authority is required to open a Housing Revenue Account is set at the right level, or if a different threshold would help individual councils, including those affected by LGR, to increase housing provision.

Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities will be given the ability to set the strategic direction of any future affordable housing programme in their area, including shaping the tenure mix and identifying priority sites for housing development to be supported by grant.

At the Spring statement, the government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and contribute to our ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament. For further details on steps taken to contribute to this milestone, please see the answer given to Question UIN 40137 on 31 March 2025.

More broadly, in the multi-year Spending Review later this year, the government will set out the details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent. Alongside wider investment across the Parliament, it will help deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

Ian Gibson Fellowship