Maternity Commissioner

Lord Weir of Ballyholme Excerpts

Wednesday 4th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The first meeting of the taskforce is imminent. Obviously, it ties in with the review publishing its final recommendations and making sure that the right people are in the room and that they have the right call to evidence to move forward. As I have said, pace, action and delivery are fundamental to this work. Families across the country have suffered for too long and we are determined to take action that will help in this area.

[Lord Weir of Ballyholme (DUP)]

My Lords, one of the problems that is faced—and it is not confined to maternity services but has been seen to be fairly acute within them—is a form of postcode lottery within the health service; we have good practice and the best practice in some areas, but some other areas which are maybe only a few miles away do not provide that. While we wait with anticipation for the Amos review, what actions are the Government taking to drive consistency of delivery within the NHS?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

This comes to the absolute centre of the problem. The different health structures around the country represent very different communities and it is essential that those health services are tailored to meet the needs of their communities. The inequalities, for example, and the difference in maternal death figures between ethnic-minority backgrounds speak to the point that we must make sure that the staff working in those areas are clear about the challenges that are faced. I am afraid that practice has not been good enough in this area, but consistency and oversight—making sure that if there are problems, they are flagged and rapid reviews can go in straightaway to deal with them—will be essential.