Maternity Nurses, Nannies and the Infant Sleep Industry

Debate between Connor Rand and Robbie Moore

Monday 8th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rand]

Yes, I completely agree. I know that the hon. Member has worked with the Lullaby Trust, and I am grateful to have met its representatives myself and to have had their input into my campaign on regulation in this area. Of course, the Government have already begun to set out—quite rightly, after his campaigning work—the approach we need to take forward in early years settings, but it is critical that the whole sector, including advice provided in the home, should have a sustainable legal framework.

The figures who were exposed by the BBC in their undercover filming have thousands of followers online and have published widely bought books. To any parent, they would ostensibly look like an expert. That such unqualified people can operate in that way without any oversight at all is terrifying. How can it be right that an industry dedicated to the care of babies is totally unregulated? We know the answer to that. It is not right and it must change, because without change, more children will die. I do not say that lightly; I say it because of what happened in my constituency.

Two years ago, a four-month-old baby from Trafford died after being placed in an unsafe sleeping position on the advice of a maternity nurse who had no medical qualifications at all. There was no legal accountability for this death because no laws had been broken, but a family had been broken. I cannot begin to imagine what the parents of that child have been through. There are no words to describe it, and I will not try to do so, but what I will try to do is ensure that change is the legacy of their tragedy. It is not just me that is calling for change. The senior coroner who worked on the case issued a prevention of future deaths order to the Secretary of State and, in doing so, called on infant sleep services to be urgently regulated.

What does this change look like? I have three main asks of the Government and the Minister today. First, will the Minister explore the introduction of mandatory minimum safeguarding training and qualification standards in the baby sleep industry and the nanny industry, as has been called for by the National Nanny Association, the Lullaby Trust and other organisations. I am sure that we can all agree on the reason to do this—namely, that people looking after children should have basic medical and early years training, including on safe sleep. This change could introduce standards and safeguards to an industry badly lacking in both.

This change would support the majority of people who provide responsible, home-based care for children while cracking down on the dangerous minority who do not. It would give parents peace of mind and minimum legal standards to hold providers against, and the introduction of mandatory training and standards could lead to the development of a national regulated framework or register for all those providing home-based childcare. With a register, we would strengthen safeguarding, give parents clarity and professionalise the sector.

My second ask is that we need stronger legal protections for the title of “nurse”, and in response to the tragedy in my constituency, the Government announced that they would protect the title of “nurse” so that it could be used only by someone with appropriate medical qualifications. That is a really important step forward that I very much welcome. However, people in the infant sleep industry are also calling themselves “practitioners” and “consultants”, so I urge the Government to explore legal protections for those titles too, because, like “nurse”, they imply a level of expertise that is often not there and that parents might rely on. When announcing that the Government would protect the title of nurse, the then Secretary of State committed to seeking wide input on the proposals to get them right. I appreciate that there have been changes since, but can the Minister update me on that work and set out a timeline for when we can expect action?

My third and final ask relates to the context in which the infant sleep industry has boomed. As I mentioned earlier, this is a sector to which parents are increasingly turning as the support that used to be provided by the state has been stripped back. The number of health visitors has almost halved in the last decade, and home visits are not happening consistently across the country, as overstretched staff battle caseloads of up to 1,000 families. That is the vacuum that causes parents to walk into the wild west of dangers. I would appreciate the Minister setting out the Government’s plan to invest in health visitors and infant care, so that we can protect children and their parents with the highest-quality support possible in our national health service.

[Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) (Con)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman’s excellent speech, particularly the three points that he has just made, with which I absolutely agree. I put on record my thanks to Maria Culley from the National Nanny Association, who has been working tirelessly on this issue, and who is a constituent of mine. I have met Children and Families Ministers under this Administration and previous Administrations and not managed to get too much traction, so I absolutely back everything that the hon. Gentleman is asking for.

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is not only sleeping tutors and maternity nurses but nannies who are completely unregulated? We need Disclosure and Barring Service checks, a compulsory national register for nannies, and the minimum training standards that he is calling for. Finally, I would be over the moon to work with him to ensure that we can get those asks on the statute book.

[Mr Rand]

I appreciate the hon. Member’s support. We owe it to people who are working in the industry and behaving responsibly to ensure that those standards are in place right across the industry.

This Government are already doing vital work on safe sleeping. Safe sleep guidance in nurseries is set to become statutory, and Ofsted will now assess safe sleep practices during its inspections of early years settings. I pay tribute to the Campaign for Gigi, the Lullaby Trust and the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) for their role in securing these truly transformative steps. The Government must build on that progress. If we accept the urgent need for safe-sleep protections in early years settings, why would we not apply the same standards to care that is provided in people’s homes? This is about safety, accountability and support for every parent.

Of all the contributions that I have made in this place so far, this is the one I feel most strongly about. I know from experience the difficulty of being a new parent, and how vulnerable we are in that time of stress, fear and confusion. It is truly chilling that this vulnerability, combined with the desire we all have to do the best for our children, can lead us to seek support from those not fit to give it. But that is what is happening, and we have a responsibility to do something about that.

I hope that today can be the start of that journey. I look forward to meeting and working with Minister, the charities working on this issue, and all those across the House who want to see real progress to develop the solutions we need to protect children and their parents from unimaginable tragedy.