Oral Answers to Questions

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will ensure that all schools can innovate, that new teachers are qualified and that every child receives a consistent core education to set them up for success in life.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

Q13. Five months ago, the Care Quality Commission reported that two thirds of maternity units in England were unsafe, and years of unsafe staffing levels have resulted in the NHS paying an astonishing £1.15 billion a year in compensation due to avoidable injuries caused during childbirth and sometimes deaths. The previous Conservative Government allowed maternity services to deteriorate to the point where many consider it to be a public health crisis. Will the Prime Minister commit to improving maternity care and women’s health services as a top priority, so that our maternity unit in Winchester and those around the rest of the country are the safest places in the world for women to give birth?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising this important issue. Women and babies deserve the highest standards of care through pregnancy, birth and the months that follow. We are committed to recruiting thousands of new midwives for the NHS while providing support to trusts that are failing on maternity care. We are working with the NHS as it delivers a three-year maternity plan, which is making good progress in improving services, including for his constituents.