Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he last met with the Patient Safety Commissioner.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been no formal meeting between my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the Patient Safety Commissioner. However, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Baroness Merron), in her previous role as the minister with responsibility for patient safety and patient voice, met with the Patient Safety Commissioner in January 2025.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date his Department will publish the terms of reference for the national maternity review.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Independent Maternity and Neonatal Investigation’s Terms of Reference were published on 15 September 2025 and are available at the following link:
The Chair of the Investigation, Baroness Amos, engaged with families on their development.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to consult (a) the Maternity Safety Alliance and (b) other bereaved families’ groups as part of the national maternity review.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 23 June 2025, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced an independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services to understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care.
He has held a series of meetings with harmed and bereaved families from across the country, and has committed to ensuring the voices of women and families are at the heart of improving standards.
On 14 August 2025, he announced the appointment of Baroness Amos as Chair of the Independent Maternity and Neonatal Investigation. Baroness Amos was selected after feedback from bereaved families who expressed a preference for someone with distance from the NHS.
Baroness Amos’ investigation will put families at the heart of the work and affected families were asked to provide input to the draft terms of reference of the investigation. These have been developed to focus on understanding the experiences of affected women and families, identifying lessons learned and driving the improvements needed to ensure high quality and safe maternity and neonatal care across England.
The Government is also establishing a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to be made up of a panel of experts and family, charity and staff representatives.
The taskforce will use the recommendations from the independent investigation to develop a national plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care, and will work closely with families in developing the action plan, ensuring their voices are central to this work.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to The Hughes Report: Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex issue involving input from different government departments. The Government will provide a further update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) his Department and (b) ICBs have issued guidance to larger GP practices with multiple sites across several ICB areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs), as commissioners of primary medical services, are responsible for the quality, safety, and performance of services delivered by providers within their areas. Large general practitioner (GP) practices spanning multiple commissioner areas will ordinarily hold individual contracts within each commissioning area they operate in and will therefore be held to account for the quality, safety, and performance of services by the responsible commissioner in each area.
The Department does not collect information on all guidance that is issued by ICBs.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the rapid national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services to make its initial set of recommendations.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In June 2025, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced an independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services, which will be chaired by Baroness Amos.
The investigation will produce an initial set of national recommendations by December 2025. These recommendations will take previous recommendations into consideration and will therefore take primacy over previous recommendations.